Stable positive unipolar resistive switching in chemical solution-deposited nanocrystalline spinel ferrite ZnFe2O4

Abstract

The chemical solution-deposited zinc ferrite (ZFO; ZnFe2O4) RRAM devices on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate are being reported. Fabricated devices show the positive as well as negative unipolar switching memory properties. Thickness of ZFO thin films in Au/ZFO/Pt structure was varied to explore the resistive switching behavior. It is reported that forming voltage and resistance of the device increase by increasing the number of ZFO layers. Our results reveal that ZFO thin film deposited by eight times spin coating with a thickness of eight layers illustrates stable resistive switching with the most steady Set (2[Formula: see text]V) and Reset voltages (0.5[Formula: see text]V) as compared to the devices with two, four, and six layers. It also demonstrates the enhanced endurance of greater than 300 switching cycles and stable time-dependent resistance greater than 104[Formula: see text]s. The current transport mechanism is Ohmic at low-resistance state, while it leads to Schottky emission at high-resistance state. The possible switching mechanism is also discussed for the possible application of ZFO-based memory for nonvolatile RRAM devices.