Volatile Resistive Switching and Short-Term Synaptic Plasticity in a Ferroelectric-Modulated SrFeOx Memristor

Abstract

SrFeO_x (SFO) offers a topotactic phase transformation between an insulating brownmillerite SrFeO_2.5 (BM-SFO) phase and a conductive perovskite SrFeO₃ (PV-SFO) phase, making it a competitive candidate for use in resistive memory and neuromorphic computing. However, most of existing SFO-based memristors are nonvolatile devices which struggle to achieve short-term synaptic plasticity (STP). To address this issue and realize STP, we propose to leverage ferroelectric polarization to effectively draw ions across the interface so that the PV-SFO conductive filaments (CFs) can be ruptured in absence of an external field. As a proof of concept, we fabricate ferroelectric Pb(Zr_0.2Ti_0.8)O₃ (PZT)/BM-SFO bilayer films with Au top electrodes and SrRuO₃ bottom electrodes. The device exhibits the desired volatile resistive switching behavior, with its low resistance state decaying over time. Such volatility is attributed to the positive polarization charge near the PZT/SFO interface, which can attract the oxygen ions from SFO to PZT and hence lead to the rupture of CFs. Moreover, this volatile device successfully emulates STP-related synaptic functions, including excitatory postsynaptic current, paired-pulse facilitation, learning-experience behavior, associative learning, and reservoir computing. Our study showcases an effective method for achieving volatile resistive switching and STP, which may be applied to various systems beyond SFO-based memristors.