Investigation on Threshold Voltage Adjustment of Threshold Switching Devices with HfO2/Al2O3 Superlattice on Transparent ITO/Glass Substrate

Micromachines (Basel). 2020 May 21;11(5):525. doi: 10.3390/mi11050525.

Abstract

Threshold voltage adjustment in threshold switching (TS) devices with HfO2/Al2O3 superlattice (by means of changing the cycle ratio of HfO2 to Al2O3 in atomic layer deposition) is investigated to implement a transparent cross-point array. TS devices with different cycle ratios (i.e., 3:1, 3:2, and 3:3) were fabricated and studied. The threshold voltage of the devices was increased from 0.9 V to 3.2 V, as the relative contents of Al2O3 layer in the superlattice were increased. At the same time, it is demonstrated that the off-resistance values of the devices were enhanced from 2.6 109 to 6 1010 as the atomic layer deposition (ALD) cycle ratio of HfO2 to Al2O3 layer was adjusted from 3:1 to 3:3. However, the hold voltage and the on-current values were almost identical for the three devices. These results can be understood using the larger barrier height of Al2O3 layer than that of HfO2 layer.

Keywords: indium tin oxide (ITO); multilayer; non-volatile memory; threshold switching device; transparent device.