Investigation of Electrical Properties of the Al/SiO(2)/n(++)-Si Resistive Switching Structures by Means of Static, Admittance, and Impedance Spectroscopy Measurements

In this study, the resistive switching phenomenon in Al/SiO2/n(++)-Si structures is observed and studied by means of DC, small-signal admittance, and complex impedance spectroscopy measurements. Possible transport mechanisms in the high and low resistance states are identified. Based on the results of the applied measurement techniques, an electrical equivalent circuit of the structure is proposed. We discuss the effect of parasitic elements influencing the measurement results and show that a proper model can give useful information about the electrical properties of the device. A good agreement between the characteristics of the proposed equivalent circuit and the experimental data, based on different measurement procedures, confirms the validity of the used methodology and its applicability to the electrical characterization of RRAMs.