Resistive switching behavior of a thin amorphous rare-earth scandate: Effects of oxygen content

In addition to beneficial similar to 3 orders of magnitude in the resistance ratio, the amorphous HoScOx film exhibits excellent resistive switching (RS) properties of low electrical stress, thin thickness (36 nm), and simple process without forming or annealing, making it potentially useful for nonvolatile memory applications. Obvious oxygen effects are seen: no apparent RS property is detected in the near-stoichiometric film with 57.6 at. % oxygen, whereas distinct RS characteristics are observed in the oxygen-deficient (50.7 at. %) film. The RS property obtained is thought to be dominated by the high oxygen vacancy concentration, which serves as the filamentary conduction in the sample. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4732079]