Resistive switching of silicon-rich-oxide featuring high compatibility with CMOS technology for 3D stackable and embedded applications

This paper discusses the resistive switching devices based on highly compatible silicon-rich-oxide, including silicon monoxide (SiO) and SiO x N y material, which can be fabricated by low temperature process, and thus fully compatible with the back-end CMOS technology. The demonstrated SiO based RRAM suitable for 3D stackable applications shows repeatable unipolar resistive switching behavior with excellent on/off resistance ratio and good retention performance, but a little bit high switching voltage. The presented silicon-rich silicon-oxynitride RRAM device can effectively reduce the switching voltages (∼1 V) and shows good retention capability under 180°C baking as well as fast speed, giving great potentials for 3D stackable and embedded applications. The switching mechanisms in the studied devices are discussed. The method of switching voltage reduction through nitrogen doping, as a kind of defect engineering, can provide some guidelines for RRAM design.