Improving resistance uniformity and endurance of resistive switching memory by accurately controlling the stress time of pulse program operation

In this letter, the impact of stress time of pulse program operation on the resistance uniformity and endurance of resistive random access memory (RRAM) is investigated. A width-adjusting pulse operation (WAPO) method which can accurately setup and measure switching time is proposed for improving the uniformity and endurance of RRAM. Different from the traditional single pulse operation (TSPO) method in which only one wide pulse is applied in each switching cycle, WAPO method utilizes a series of pulses with the width increased gradually until a set or reset switching process is completely finished and no excessive stress is produced. Our program/erase (P/E) method can exactly control the switching time and the final resistance and can significantly improve the uniformity, stability, and endurance of RRAM device. Improving resistance uniformity by WAPO compared with TSPO method is explained through the interdependence between resistance state and switching time. The endurance improvement by WAPO operation stems from the effective avoidance of the overstress-induced progressive-breakdown and even hard-breakdown to the conductive soft-breakdown path. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.