Effect of nitrogen capture ability of quantum dots on resistive switching characteristics of AlN-based RRAM

This Letter studies the effect of the nitrogen capture ability of quantum dots on resistive switching characteristics of AlN-based resistive random access memory. We prepared a single layer AlN device and four types of AlN/PbS quantum dot stacked structure devices with different concentrations. Compared with the single layer AlN device, the AlN/PbS quantum dot stacked structure devices exhibit excellent resistive switching characteristics, such as forming-free, low power consumption, and excellent stability. We propose that the resistive switching process is determined by the migration of nitrogen ions and the lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dot layer as a natural nitrogen ion reservoir, which can improve the resistive switching characteristics. Moreover, the size of the natural nitrogen ion reservoir can be modulated by changing the concentration of quantum dots.