Lithium incorporation enhanced resistive switching behaviors in lithium lanthanum titanium oxide-based heterostructure

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2022.04.029

Abstract

Abstract:

Resistive switching devices with a high self-rectifying ratio are important for achieving the crossbar memristor array that overcomes the sneak current issue. Herein, we demonstrate a single amorphous lithium lanthanum titanium oxide (LLTO) layer based Pt/LLTO/Pt device possessing a self-rectifying ratio higher than 1 × 10⁴ that is comparable to the reported devices with complicated multi-layer stacking structures. Moreover, the device shows forming-free and highly uniform bipolar resistive switching (BRS) characteristic that facilitates the potential applications. The trap-controlled and trap-free space charge limited conductions are demonstrated to dominate the high and low resistance states of the device, respectively. The fast migration of lithium ions under external voltage accelerates the electron injection across the Pt/LLTO interface and also the space charge accumulation in the LLTO layer, and as a result, the high performance of the Pt/LLTO/Pt device was achieved. As demonstrated Pt/LLTO/Pt device sheds a light on the potential applications of the lithium ionic conductors in self-rectifying resistive switching devices.

Key words: Resistive switching, Self-rectifying, Lithium lanthanum titanium oxide, Fast ionic conductor

Deng Yibo, Xu Xiaoguang, Zhang Lu, Du Fei, Liu Qi, Chen Jikun, Meng Kangkang, Wu Yong, Yang Ming, Jiang Yong. Lithium incorporation enhanced resistive switching behaviors in lithium lanthanum titanium oxide-based heterostructure[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2022, 128: 142-147.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1. (a) XRD patterns of Li0.5La0.5TiO3 target and the as grown Si/SiO2/Ti/Pt/LLTO film. (b) Ti 2p XPS spectrum of the as grown Si/SiO2/Ti/Pt/LLTO film.

Fig. 2. (a) I-V curves of the Pt/LLTO/Pt device under repeated voltage sweeps of 0 V → +6 V → 0 V → ?6 V → 0 V. The first and 100th sweeps are highlighted by red and blue. The inset shows the Schematic diagram of the Pt/LLTO/Pt devices.

Fig. 3. Log-log scale I-V curves of the Pt /LLTO/Pt device for SCLC fitting under positive (a) and negative (b) voltages.

Fig. 4. Schematic diagrams of electron trapping and detrapping in the bulk LLTO under positive and negative voltages respectively.

Fig. 5. Comparison of I-V characteristics of the Pt/LLTO/Pt and Pt/LLTO/W/Pt devices under 0 V → +6 V → 0 V → ?6 V → 0 V voltage sweep.

Fig. 6. Illustration of the lithium ions migration processes in bulk LLTO under voltage sweeps. The gradient colored background of LLTO represents the difference of resistivity, where the darkness is consistent with the resistivity.

Fig. 7. Retention of the LRS together with the double exponential decay fitting result.

Table 1. Comparison of different self-rectifying resistive switching devices.

Device structure	Number of oxide layers	Forming free	Rectification ratio	on/off ratio
Pt/LLTO/Pt (this work)	1	Yes	>10⁴	>10²
n++Si/SiO₂/HfO_x/Ni [2]	2	No	>10³	>10³
Pt/Al₂O₃/NiO_x/Ti [30]	2	Yes	∼5 × 10²	∼6 × 10³
Ta/TaO_x/HfO₂/Pd [31]	2	Yes	∼2 × 10³	>10³
TiN/NbO_x/TiO_y/NbO_x/Pt [32]	3	Yes	∼10⁵	>10²

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