Controlling resistive switching behavior in the solution processed SiO2-x device by the insertion of TiO2 nanoparticles

Abstract

The resistive switching behavior of the solution processed SiO_x device was investigated by inserting TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs). Compared to the pristine SiO_x device, the TiO₂ NPs inserted SiO_x (SiO_x@TiO₂ NPs) device achieves outstanding switching characteristics, namely a higher ratio of SET/RESET, lower operating voltages, improved cycle-to-cycle variability, faster switching speed, and multiple-RESET states. Density functional theory calculation (DFT) and circuit breaker simulation (CB) were used to detail the origin of the outstanding switching characteristic of the SiO_x@TiO₂ NPs. The improvement in resistive switching is mainly based on the difference in formation/rupture of the conductive path in the SiO₂ and SiO₂@TiO₂ NPs devices. In particular, the reduction of resistance and lower switching voltage of TiO₂ NPs control the formation and rupture of the conductive path to achieve more abrupt switching between SET/RESET with higher on/off ratio. This method of combined DFT calculation and CB offers a promising approach for high-performance non-volatile memory applications.