Importance of growth method and substrate-induced crystalline quality in Al/Gd0.2Ca0.8MnO3/Au memristor devices

We report on the impact of the growth method and substrate-induced crystalline quality on the performance of planar Al/Gd0.2Ca0.8MnO3/Au memristor devices. Structural, magnetic, and resistive properties were thoroughly examined for fundamental characterizations, with a particular emphasis on their correlation with the memristive properties of fabricated devices. Our findings suggest that memristor structures grown on single crystal SrTiO3 substrates using pulsed laser deposition consistently exhibit superior crystalline quality compared to those fabricated using chemical solution deposition and on silicon-based substrates. Despite variations in growth method and substrate, all memristor structures display typical resistive switching behaviour, distinguishing between high-resistance and low-resistance states. However, endurance and retention measurements demonstrate that memristor structures produced via pulsed laser deposition on single crystalline SrTiO3 demonstrate the most favourable resistive switching properties. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying the differences in resistive switching behavior across substrates and deposition methods, we extensively discuss these issues in the context of structural distortion and conduction mechanisms.