Enhanced performance and reduction in operating voltage of TiO2 thin film based resistive switching memory under optical stimulus

Resistive switching memory devices are emerging class of non-volatile-memories and have shown outstanding device performance originates from the migration of oxygen vacancies. Research efforts are made to enhance the resistive switching behavior of devices using electrical and thermal stimuli, for example. Here we report optically modulated resistive switching behavior in Pt/TiO2/Al structure at low operating voltages. Highly stable unipolar resistive switching behavior with long retention of the resistance states (in the order of 10(4) min) and stable endurance (for > 300 cycles) is reported. Interestingly, the operating voltages of structure were observed to shift towards lower voltage side under optical illumination, which indicates that photo generated charge carriers play an important role. The present finding demonstrates the possible utilization of photo-responsive materials in manufacturing non-volatile memory device for future high-performance information storage and computing applications.