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Three typical types of alternating I–V curves in ITO/BiFeO3/Al2O3/Ag multilayer structure

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Abstract

Three groups of ITO/BiFeO3 (BFO)/Al2O3 (AO)/Ag multilayer structures with AO film layer of different thickness were prepared by magnetron sputtering. All multilayer films exhibit the characteristics of bipolar resistive switching (RS). With the variation of the thickness of AO films, the switching behaviors of the memory devices change. Compared with other devices, the device with a 5-nm-thick AO layer shows more obvious bipolar resistive switching characteristics, and its maximum resistance ratio is about 30. There is a clear switching window in the negative bias region, and at a low reading voltage (~ − 0.5v), the device with the thinnest AO film exhibits a distinguishable high–low resistance state. It is interesting that, during the continuous cyclic voltage scanning, three types of I–V curves appear randomly and alternately in the sample with AO of 5 nm, which is rarely reported in the literature. In this paper, we propose the dual mechanism of the virtual cathode growth dominated by Ag ions and the formation and rupture of conductive filaments (CFs) contributed by Joule heating-assisted oxygen vacancies migration. This model successfully explains the reasons for the coexistence and conversion of three kinds of curves in the memory device with a 5-nm-thick AO film and also explains the different switching behaviors in the three groups of samples.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51372209).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics Science and Technology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, People’s Republic of China

    Yu Lu, Yuanyuan Tang, Xiulin Li, Chaotao He & Peng Chen

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  1. Yu Lu
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  2. Yuanyuan Tang
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  3. Xiulin Li
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Correspondence to Peng Chen.

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Lu, Y., Tang, Y., Li, X. et al. Three typical types of alternating I–V curves in ITO/BiFeO3/Al2O3/Ag multilayer structure. Appl. Phys. A 128, 229 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-05308-3

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