Impact of Temperature on the Resistive Switching Behavior of Embedded $\hbox{HfO}_{2}$-Based RRAM Devices

Back-end-of-line integrated $\hbox{1} \times \hbox{1}\ \mu\hbox{m}^{2} \ \hbox{TiN/HfO}_{2}/\break \hbox{Ti/TiN}$ MIM memory devices in a 0.25- $\mu\hbox{m}$ complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology were built to investigate the conduction mechanism and the resistive switching behavior as a function of temperature. The temperature-dependent $I$ – $V$ characteristics in fresh devices are attributed to the Poole–Frenkel mechanism with an extracted trap energy level at $\phi \approx \hbox{0.2}\ \hbox{eV}$ below the $\hbox{HfO}_{2}$ conduction band. The trap level is associated with positively charged oxygen vacancies. The electroformed memory cells show a stable bipolar switching behavior in the temperature range from 213–413 K. The off -state current increases with temperature, whereas the on-state current can be described by a weak metallic behavior. Furthermore, the results suggest that the $I$ – $V$ cycling not only induces significant changes in the electrical properties of the MIM memory devices, i.e., the increase in the off-state current, but also stronger temperature dependence. The temperature effect on the on-state and off-state characteristics is modeled within the framework of the quantum point-contact model for dielectric breakdown using an effective temperature-dependent confinement potential.