Three-state resistive switching in CoFe2O4/Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3/ZnO heterostructure

The heterostructural film combining multiferroic CoFe2O4/Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3 bilayer with semiconductor ZnO layer was prepared. Three-state resistive switching was demonstrated by time-dependent current measurements under different stimuli combination of voltage pulse and magnetic bias. The asymmetry diodelike current-voltage, capacitance-voltage, and polarization-voltage loops, which seriously depend on magnetic bias, were observed. We revealed that three-state resistive switching was dominated by the changes in the charge carriers in the heterostructure, which were modulated by the magnetoelectric coupling between ferromagnetic and ferroelectric layers and interface polarization coupling between ferroelectric and semiconductor layers. This work provides promising candidates for developing advanced switchable devices with multifunctional memory. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4730965]