Tunable multiferroic and forming-free bipolar resistive switching properties in multifunctional BiFeO3 film by doping engineering

The advent of multiferroic-based materials has opened the plethora for high tunable multifunctional materials and ultra-fast operation for future non-volatile memory technology. Multifunctional rhombohedral Bi0.94Y0.06Fe0.95Mn0.05O3 (BYFMO) film is grown on fluorine-doped tin oxide to investigate the electromechanical and resistive switching properties in Ag/BYFMO/FTO RRAM configuration. UV-visible absorbance spectra reveal the semiconducting behavior of BYFMO, and the band-gap is found to be 2.37 eV. The magnetic hysteresis curve manifests the soft ferromagnetic nature by suppressing the spiral spin modulated structure, supported by MFM imaging. The Y-Mn co-doped BFO possesses highly tunable piezoelectric and ferroelectric features with maximum domains preferred along 71(0) and 109(0). Lateral domain growth is observed with the increase in tip bias voltage. The Ag/BYFMO/FTO RRAM shows distinct bipolar resistive switching behavior at the SET (ON), and RESET (OFF) processes are obtained at voltage V-SET = +1.7V and V-RESET = -2.8V, respectively. The memory window (ON/OFF) between high resistance state and low resistance state is about similar to 100, which can be sustained up to 100 testing cycles and 10(3)s without any degradation, indicating that the BYFMO based device exhibits better endurance and retention properties. Moreover, the resistive switching mechanism of the device can be well explained by space charge limited current conduction, which is well supported by conducting a filamentary model. With excellent piezoelectric and resistive switching performance, the multifunctional BYFMO has enough potential for future non-volatile memory technology. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The BYFMO film exhibits semiconductor behavior and soft ferromagnetic properties, with high tunable piezoelectric and ferroelectric features. The AG/BYFMO/FTO RRAM shows excellent bipolar resistive switching performance, with a stable memory window and good endurance and retention properties.