Interfacial chemical bonding-mediated ionic resistive switching

In this paper, we present a unique resistive switching (RS) mechanism study of Pt/TiO(2)/Pt cell, one of the most widely studied RS system, by focusing on the role of interfacial bonding at the active TiO(2)–Pt interface, as opposed to a physico-chemical change within the RS film. This study was enabled by the use of a non-conventional scanning probe-based setup. The nanoscale cell is formed by bringing a Pt/TiO(2)-coated atomic force microscope tip into contact with a flat substrate coated with Pt. The study reveals that electrical resistance and interfacial bonding status are highly coupled together. An oxygen-mediated chemical bonding at the active interface between TiO(2) and Pt is a necessary condition for a non-polar low-resistance state, and a reset switching process disconnects the chemical bonding. Bipolar switching mode did not involve the chemical bonding. The nature of chemical bonding at the TiO(2)-metal interface is further studied by density functional theory calculations.