Intrinsic Resistance Switching in Amorphous Silicon Suboxides: The Role of Columnar Microstructure

We studied intrinsic resistance switching behaviour in sputter-deposited amorphous silicon suboxide (a-SiO(x)) films with varying degrees of roughness at the oxide-electrode interface. By combining electrical probing measurements, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), we observe that devices with rougher oxide-electrode interfaces exhibit lower electroforming voltages and more reliable switching behaviour. We show that rougher interfaces are consistent with enhanced columnar microstructure in the oxide layer. Our results suggest that columnar microstructure in the oxide will be a key factor to consider for the optimization of future SiOx-based resistance random access memory.