Oxygen‐Vacancy Induced Resistive Switching Effect in Mn‐Doped ZnO Memory Devices

The bipolar resistive switching behavior of Pt/Mn‐doped ZnO/InZnO memory devices is investigated in this study, and evidence has been found that this switching effect is due to defects. X‐ray photoelectron spectra indicate that significant amounts of oxygen‐vacancy defects are present in the Mn‐doped ZnO memory device. Superior bipolar resistive switching behavior has been observed in Mn‐doped ZnO memory devices. In contrast, this switching behavior is not present in the undoped ZnO memory device. Based on endurance and retention time measurements, these devices also show excellent reliability and stability, and the enhanced bipolar resistive switching behavior is consistent with changes in oxygen‐vacancy concentration. Especially, the resistive switching effect can be attributed to oxygen vacancy conductive filaments is found by depth‐profiling XPS spectra. These results clearly illustrate that oxygen vacancies are instrumental to the bipolar resistive switching effect in ZnO‐based memory devices. The bipolar resistive switching effect can therefore be attributed to the formation of oxygen‐vacancy defect conductive filaments. This study obviously demonstrate that high‐performance ZnO‐based memory devices can be fabricated by incorporating Mn. The depth‐profiling XPS spectra are analyzed at different depths of the ZMO device. The oxygen concentration in the low resistance state did not show significant changes, while it increased with etching time in the high resistance state. These results are strong evidence that the resistive switching effect mechanisms of the ZMO device are applicable to oxygen vacancy‐based conductive filament models.