Highly uniform resistive switching characteristics of TiN/ZrO2/Pt memory devices

We fabricated the TiN/ZrO2/Pt sandwiched resistive switching memory devices. Excellent bipolar resistive switching characteristics, including a large number of switching cycles and highly uniform switching parameters, as well as long retention time were achieved. The improved switching behavior of TiN/ZrO2/Pt could be attributed to the oxygen reservoir effect of TiN electrodes on the formation and rupture of the filamentary conducting paths by modifying the concentration distributions of the oxygen ions and vacancies in ZrO2 thin films. The results demonstrate the feasibility of high performance resistive switching memory devices based on transition metal oxides by using TiN as the top electrode.