Temperature dependence of resistive switching characteristics in NiO(111) films on metal layer

Dense and uniform NiO(111) films are deposited on a Pt layer via magnetron sputtering. At temperatures of up to 80 °C, the Ag/NiO(111)/Pt memory cells exhibit a stable bipolar resistive switching behaviour with a switching time of 104 s. Both the Arrhenius-type and Schottky-type current-temperature plots are well fitted by linear relationships, revealing that the electron transport in the high resistance state is governed by the Schottky tunnelling mechanism. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profiles demonstrate that the NiO(111) films are highly oxygen deficient, and that oxygen-vacancy conductive filaments are responsible for the temperature-dependent resistive switching behaviour of the NiO(111) films.