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Investigation of Filament Formation and Surface Perturbation in Nanoscale-Y2O3 Memristor: A Physical Modeling Approach

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Abstract

A comprehensive physical electro-thermal modeling approach is explored to investigate the intricate mechanisms underlying filament formation and the effect of surface perturbation in nanoscale Y2O3-based memristors. The approach integrates fundamental principles of solid-state physics, electrochemistry, and materials science to develop a detailed physical model that captures the key phenomena governing the operation of Y2O3 memristors. The simulation is carried out in a semiconductor physics-based tool, i.e., COMSOL Multiphysics with a defined MATLAB script, wherein simulation is based on the minimum free energy of the used materials at an applied input voltage. The fundamental processes in filament growth include ion migration, redox reactions, and vacancy dynamics within the Y2O3 lattice. Furthermore, the influence of surface perturbation on the overall device behavior, grain boundaries, and electrode interactions impact on memristor performance is also investigated. The surface perturbations significantly influenced the switching dynamics of the memristor, including variations in switching voltages, ON/OFF current ratio, filament radius, and filament temperature during the switching process. Therefore, the presented findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the physical mechanisms at play in Y2O3 memristors, offering valuable guidance for the design and engineering of these nanoscale devices for next-generation memory and neuromorphic computing applications. This physical modeling approach not only enhances our comprehension of memristor behavior but also paves the way for the development of more efficient and reliable memristor-based technologies.

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the Indian Science Technology and Engineering Facilities Map (I-STEM), IISc, Bengaluru, India for providing a license for COMSOL® Multiphysics. This work is in part supported by the TIH IoT Chanakya Fellowship Program 2022-23(3) under grant TIH-IoT/2023-03/HRD/CHANAKYA/SL/CFP-013(R-1), and partially supported by CSIR Project (No. 22(0841)/20/EMR-II) and JSPS Invitational Fellowship (Fellowship ID: S23062).

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Author notes

  1. Sanjay Kumar, Mayank Dubey, Megha Nawaria, Mohit Kumar Gautam have equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

    Sanjay Kumar

  2. Hybrid Nanodevice Research Group (HNRG), Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 453552, India

    Mayank Dubey, Megha Nawaria & Shaibal Mukherjee

  3. Department of Electronic and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, UK

    Mohit Kumar Gautam

  4. School of Electronics Engineering (SENSE), Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600127, India

    Mangal Das

  5. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 302031, India

    Ritesh Bhardwaj

  6. Department of Electronics Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India

    Shalu Rani

  7. Centre for Advanced Electronics (CAE), Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 453552, India

    Shaibal Mukherjee

  8. School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001, Australia

    Shaibal Mukherjee

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  1. Sanjay Kumar
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Correspondence to Sanjay Kumar or Shaibal Mukherjee.

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Kumar, S., Dubey, M., Nawaria, M. et al. Investigation of Filament Formation and Surface Perturbation in Nanoscale-Y2O3 Memristor: A Physical Modeling Approach. J. Electron. Mater. 53, 2965–2972 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-024-10967-4

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