Reversible resistive switching of SrTiOx thin films for nonvolatile memory applications

Nonvolatile and reversible bistable and multistable resistance states of polycrystalline SrTiOx thin film were studied. The pulse-laser-deposition method was employed to grow the film, and the clear resistance switching was observed under dc bias sweep and voltage pulses. More than two controllable resistance states were observed by applying voltage pulses. These reversible states have a resistance difference by nearly two orders of magnitude, and we verified that this sharp resistance switching takes place at the metal-oxide interface. Excellent reliability characteristics, such as endurance cycles of up to 10(5) times and data retention time of up to 10(6) s at 125 degrees C demonstrate the promise of SrTiOx film for future nonvolatile random access memory applications. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.