Dislocation impact on resistive switching in single-crystal SrTiO3

Filamentary conduction via dislocations has been considered to be a mechanism driving resistive switching in SrTiO3 single-crystals. This possible mechanism is further investigated by fabricating Pt-SrTiO3-Pt lateral devices on high dislocation density areas as well as dislocation-free areas of single-crystal SrTiO3, and using electron channeling contrast imaging and dislocation-selective wet chemical etching to track pre-existing dislocations and dislocations nucleated during electrical biasing. Device size, compliance levels, and vacancy concentration were observed to impact dislocation formation. The susceptibility of SrTiO3 to dislocation formation and strategies to avoid it by reducing power dissipation are discussed. The presence of dislocations is found to have a negligible effect on the device resistive switching behavior. Dislocation-free resistive switching devices are demonstrated for reduced single-crystalline SrTiO3.