Resistive memory switching in perovskite-derivative single crystals

We investigated several layered perovskite derivatives of the family AnBnO3n+2, such as LaTiO3.41, CaNbO3.41 and SrNbO3.41, which can be considered as a stacking of blocks consisting of 5 perovskite layers. Electric transport across these layers takes place via intrinsic tunnelling. Mesa devices with a cross-sectional area of 50 to 200 µm2 and a height between 30 and 500 nm were fabricated by electron-beam lithography and ion-beam etching. Both dc I-V characteristics and pulsed current injection have shown switching between different resistive states in these materials. The resistive states have long-term stability, which makes them interesting for memory applications. The transport experiments suggest that switching and resistive memory are controlled by trapping and release of charge carriers. Furthermore, photoelectron and NEXAFS spectroscopy of cleaved LaTiO3.41 surfaces have been performed. The results are compared to recent correlated band theory (LDA+U) calculations.