Tracing the Si Dangling Bond Nanopathway Evolution ina-SiNx:H Resistive Switching Memory by the Transient Current

With the big data and artificial intelligence era coming, SiNx-based resistive random-access memories (RRAM) with controllable conductive nanopathways have a significant application in neuromorphic computing, which is similar to the tunable weight of biological synapses. However, an effective way to detect the components of conductive tunable nanopathways in a-SiNx:H RRAM has been a challenge with the thickness down-scaling to nanoscale during resistive switching. For the first time, we report the evolution of a Si dangling bond nanopathway in a-SiNx:H resistive switching memory can be traced by the transient current at different resistance states. The number of Si dangling bonds in the conducting nanopathway for all resistive switching states can be estimated through the transient current based on the tunneling front model. Our discovery of transient current induced by the Si dangling bonds in the a-SiNx:H resistive switching device provides a new way to gain insight into the resistive switching mechanism of the a-SiNx:H RRAM in nanoscale.

Automated summary

With the advent of the big data and artificial intelligence era, SiNx-based resistive random-access memories (RRAM) with controllable conductive nanopathways find significant applications in neuromorphic computing, akin to tunable weight of biological synapses. However, detecting the components of conductive tunable nanopathways in a-SiNx:H RRAM has been a challenge due to down-scaling thickness to the nanoscale during resistive switching. In this study, we show for the first time that the evolution of a Si dangling bond nanopathway in a-SiNx:H resistive switching memory can be tracked by transient current at different resistance states.