Oxide thickness-dependent resistive switching characteristics of Cu/HfO2/Pt ECM devices

HfO2-based resistive random-access memory devices are promising candidates for new memory and computing applications. Hereby, scaling of the devices is a key issue, where overall fundamental switching and conduction mechanisms can be easily influenced by changes in the oxide layer thickness. This work addresses the oxide thickness-dependent resistive switching characteristics in Cu/HfO2/Pt memory devices through bipolar DC switching characterization. Forming, reset, and set characteristics are investigated depending on the oxide layer thickness, revealing a significant difference for thicker compared to thinner films. Thicker samples tend to show a more abrupt reset behavior and a larger set voltage variance, while for thinner samples, a more gradual reset behavior and a low set variance is found. These phenomena can be explained by a model based on thermally assisted electrochemical metallization. Furthermore, to understand the conduction mechanism of the devices, current–voltage curves of the set process were investigated. The devices are found to have an Ohmic conduction mechanism in the lower voltage region generally, while thinner samples tend to show an additional space-charge-limited current conduction mechanism in a higher voltage region.