The next-generation electronic society is dependent on the performance of nonvolatile memory devices, which has been continuously improving. In the last few years, many memory devices have been introduced. However, atomic switches are considered to be a simple and reliable basis for next-generation nonvolatile devices. In general, atomic switch-based resistive switching is controlled by electrochemical metallization. However, excess ion injection from the entire area of the active electrode into the switching layer causes device nonuniformity and degradation of reliability. Here, we propose the fabrication of a high-performance atomic switch based on Cu x-Se1- x by inserting lanthanide (Ln) metal buffer layers such as neodymium (Nd), samarium (Sm), dysprosium (Dy), or lutetium (Lu) between the active metal layer and the electrolyte. Current-atomic force microscopy results confirm that Cu ions penetrate through the Ln-buffer layer and form thin conductive filaments inside the switching layer. Compared with the Pt/Cu x-Se1- x/Al2O3/Pt device, the optimized Pt/Cu x-Se1- x/Ln/Al2O3/Pt devices show improvement in the on/off resistance ratio (102-107), retention (10 years/85 °C), endurance (∼10 000 cycles), and uniform resistance state distribution.
Keywords: Cu−Se; atomic switch; lanthanide metal buffer; low-power operating device.