The effect of oxygen affinity electrode Ti on the performance of vanadium oxide-based valence change resistive random access memory

Two top electrode (TE) metals, Pt and Ti, are deposited on VOX/Pt to investigate the effect of oxygen affinity TE on resistive switching (RS). The oxygen affinity electrode Ti significantly improves the variability and durability of the devices compared to the inert TE Pt. The TiOY interfacial layer (IL) plays a vital role in RS as an oxygen reservoir between the Ti TE and the dielectric layer. During repeated RS, a rapid endurance degradation is observed for Pt/VOX/Pt. However, the resistance value in the high-resistance state (HRS) gradually decreases over the RS cycles for Ti/VOX/Pt. The oxygen ions in VOX are consumed and stored in TE Ti owing to the high oxygen affinity of Ti. This process causes an improvement in the uniformity and endurance for Ti/VOX/Pt.