Bipolar resistive switching behavior and endurance in RF-sputtered bilayer HfO2/ZrO2 resistive random access memory

This study presents a novel bilayer resistive random access memory (RRAM) device utilizing hafnium dioxide (HfO 2 ) and zirconium dioxide (ZrO 2 ) layers. By introducing an HfO 2 interfacial layer on top of the ZrO 2 layer, the device exhibits remarkable stability and uniformity in bipolar resistance switching (RS) behavior. The bilayer device demonstrates several favorable switching characteristics, including a significantly increased on state to off state resistance ratio of approximately 10 2 , improved endurance with over 10 4 cycles, and long-term data retention exceeding 10 5 s at room temperature. The presence of oxygen vacancies (VOs) in both dielectric layers was determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Overall, the results highlight the substantial promise of the bilayer HfO 2 /ZrO 2 device for potential applications in non-volatile storage.