Resistive switching and negative differential resistance effects in Ag/BiFeO3/Fe2O3/ITO structures with various thicknesses of Fe2O3 layer

SHU Haiyan; XIA Shuying; ZHANG Xingwen; HE Chaotao; LI Shichang; QIU Xiaoyan; CHEN Peng

doi:10.7498/aps.74.20251004

Abstract

In this paper, the resistive switching characteristics of Ag/BiFeO₃/Fe₂O₃/ITO multilayer film deposited on ITO by magnetron sputtering are investigated. The Ag/BiFeO₃/Fe₂O₃/ITO devices all exhibit superior resistive switching behaviors due to the formation of Ag conducting filaments. The resistive switching ratio of the device is close to 10 for the sample with 100 nm-thick Fe₂O₃ film. The current value of the device increases sharply at 0.56 V when the voltage is swept forward, and the device switches from LRS back to HRS at –0.3 V when a voltage of opposite polarity is applied. The I-V curves of the device are fitted in double logarithmic coordinates. It is found that the device is controlled by an Ohmic conduction model in the low resistance state and by two conduction models in the high resistance state: Ohmic conduction in the low bias region, and the SCLC conduction model at higher voltages. Such a resistive switching characteristic with very low switching voltage and a high resistance ratio is particularly important for the application of resistive stochastic storage. In addition, all samples show an obvious negative differential resistance effect, which is caused by Joule heating. The Ag/BiFeO₃/Fe₂O₃/ITO device show both resistive switching characteristics and a negative differential resistance effect, which have important applications.

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Authors and contacts

School of Physical Science and Technology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China

Corresponding author: CHEN Peng, pchen@swu.edu.cn

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References

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图 1 (a) Ag/BiFeO₃/Fe₂O₃/ITO的结构图; (b) Fe₂O₃层厚度约为100 nm时器件的SEM截面

Figure 1. (a) Schematic diagram of the Ag/BiFeO₃/Fe₂O₃/ITO structure; (b) cross-sectional SEM image of the device with Fe₂O₃ layer thickness of approximately 100 nm.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 2 (a) Fe₂O₃层厚为100 nm的BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO的I-V曲线; (b) 对应于(a)周期的半对数尺度I-V曲线; (c) Fe₂O₃层厚为200 nm器件的BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO的I-V曲线; (d) 对应于(c)周期的半对数尺度I-V曲线; (e) Fe₂O₃层厚为300 nm器件中BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO的I-V曲线; (f) 对应于(e)周期的半对数尺度I-V曲线

Figure 2. (a) I-V characteristics of BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO with 100 nm-thick Fe₂O₃; (b) semi-log scale I-V curve corresponding to (a); (c) I-V characteristics of BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO device with 200 nm-thick Fe₂O₃; (d) semi-log scale I-V curve corresponding to (c); (e) I-V characteristics of BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO in the device with 300 nm-thick Fe₂O₃; (f) semi-log scale I-V curve corresponding to (e).

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 3 正扫描电压下BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO的I-V双对数拟合图　(a) Fe₂O₃层的厚度约为100 nm; (b) Fe₂O₃层的厚度约为200 nm; (c) Fe₂O₃层的厚度约为300 nm

Figure 3. Double-logarithmic fitting plots of I-V characteristics for BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO under forward voltage scanning, with Fe₂O₃ layer thicknesses of (a) ~100 nm, (b) ~200 nm, and (c) ~300 nm.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 4 Fe₂O₃层厚约为100 nm的BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO器件表现出优异的RS行为和稳定的NDR效应, 具有RRAM器件的潜力, 设备的稳定性是衡量设备性能的标准之一

Figure 4. The BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO device with ~100 nm-thick Fe₂O₃ layer demonstrates excellent resistive switching (RS) behavior and stable negative differential resistance (NDR) effect, indicating potential for RRAM applications. Device stability serves as a key performance metric.

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图 5 厚度为100 nm的BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO器件的70个连续开关周期　(a) 70循环的I-V曲线; (b) 70次循环的高低电阻比

Figure 5. Seventy consecutive resistive switching cycles of the BFO/Fe₂O₃/ITO device with ~100 nm-thick Fe₂O₃ layer: (a) I-V curves for seventy cycles; (b) high-to-low resistance ratio.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

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[3]	Bibes M, Barthélémy A 2008 Nat. Mater. 7 425 Google Scholar
[4]	Miyake M, Scott J F, Lou X J, Morrison F D, Nonaka T, Motoyama S, Tatsuta T, Tsuji O 2008 J. Appl. Phys. 104 064112 Google Scholar
[5]	Jensen W B 1997 J. Chem. Edu. 74 1063 Google Scholar
[6]	Neale R G, Nelson D L, Moore G E 1970 Electronics 43 56
[7]	Jeong D S, Thomas R, Katiyar R S, Scott J F, Kohlstedt H, Petraru A, Hwang C S 2012 Rep. Prog. Phys. 75 076502 Google Scholar
[8]	Jeong D S, Choi B J, Hwang C S 2006 J. Appl. Phys. 100 113724 Google Scholar
[9]	Yu S M, Guan X M, Wong H S P 2011 Appl. Phys. Lett. 99 063507 Google Scholar
[10]	Hui F, Grustan-Gutierrez E, Long S B, Liu Q, Ott A K, Ferrari A C, Lanza M 2017 Adv. Electron. Mater. 3 1600195 Google Scholar
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[17]	He C T, Lu Y, Li X L, Chen P 2022 Acta Phys. Sin. 71 086102 [何朝滔, 卢羽, 李秀林, 陈鹏 2022 物理学报 71 086102]Google Scholar He C T, Lu Y, Li X L, Chen P 2022 Acta Phys. Sin. 71 086102 Google Scholar
[18]	Zhang X W, He C T, Li X L, Qiu X Y, Zhang Y, Chen P 2022 Acta Phys. Sin. 71 187303 [张兴文, 何朝滔, 李秀林, 邱晓燕, 张耘, 陈鹏 2022 物理学报 71 187303]Google Scholar Zhang X W, He C T, Li X L, Qiu X Y, Zhang Y, Chen P 2022 Acta Phys. Sin. 71 187303 Google Scholar
[19]	Guo T, Sun B, Zhou Y, Zhao H B, Lei M, Zhao Y 2018 PCCP 20 20635 Google Scholar
[20]	Prakash C, Yadav A K, Dixit A 2023 Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 25 19868 Google Scholar
[21]	Zhang K J, Ren K, Qin X Z, Zhu S H, Yang F, Zhao Y, Zhang Y 2021 IEEE Trans. Electron Dev. 68 3807 Google Scholar
[22]	Kumar S, Strachan J P, Williams R S 2017 Nature 548 318 Google Scholar
[23]	Kumar S, Williams R S, Wang Z 2020 Nature 585 518 Google Scholar
[24]	Zhou G D, Gu D S, Ye J, Sun B, Shi H, Ran H, Ji'e M, Hu X, Wang L, Duan S, Ling H 2025 Adv. Mater. 37 e08107 Google Scholar
[25]	Zhou G D, Duan S K, Li P, Sun B, Wu B, Yao Y Q, Yang X D, Han J J, Wu J G, Wang G, Liao L P, Lin C Y, Hu W, Xu C Y, Liu D B, Chen T, Chen L J, Zhou A K, Song Q L 2018 Adv. Electron. Mater. 4 1700567 Google Scholar
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[28]	Lu Y, Tang Y Y, Li X L, He C T, Chen P 2022 App. Phys. A-Mater. 128 229 Google Scholar
[29]	Tang M, Sun B, Huang J, Gao J, Li C M 2016 RSC Adv. 6 25028 Google Scholar

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Resistive switching and negative differential resistance effects in Ag/BiFeO₃/Fe₂O₃/ITO structures with various thicknesses of Fe₂O₃ layer