Investigation of resistive switching and transport mechanisms of Al ₂O₃/TiO_2−x memristors under cryogenic conditions (1.5 K)

Yann Beilliard (1, 2) , François Paquette (1, 2) , Frédéric Brousseau (1, 2) , Serge Ecoffey (1, 2) , F. Alibart (1, 3) , Dominique Drouin (1, 2)

1 LN2 - Laboratoire Nanotechnologies et Nanosystèmes [Sherbrooke]
2 3IT - Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique [Sherbrooke]
3 NCM - IEMN - Nanostructures, nanoComponents & Molecules - IEMN

Resistive switching and transport mechanisms of Al2O3/TiO2−x memristor crosspoint devices have been investigated at cryogenic temperatures down to 1.5 K, for the future development of memristor-based cryogenic electronics. We report successful resistive switching of our devices in the temperature range of 300–1.5 K. The current–voltage curves exhibit negative differential resistance effects between 130 K and 1.5 K, attributed to a metal–insulator transition of the Ti4O7 conductive filament. The resulting highly nonlinear behavior is associated with an ION/IOFF diode ratio of 84 at 1.5 K, paving the way for selector-free cryogenic passive crossbars. Temperature-dependent thermal activation energies related to the conductance at low bias (20 mV) are extracted for memristors in a low resistance state, suggesting hopping-type conduction mechanisms. Finally, the transport mechanism analysis at 1.5 K indicates that for all resistance states, the conduction follows the space-charge limited current model in low fields, whereas trap-assisted tunneling dominates in higher fields.

Mots clés: Al2O3/TiO2-x memristor; cryogenic electronics; negative differential resistance; metal-insulator transition; hopping conduction

Domaines: Electronique

Yann Beilliard, François Paquette, Frédéric Brousseau, Serge Ecoffey, F. Alibart, et al.. Investigation of resistive switching and transport mechanisms of Al ₂O₃/TiO_2−x memristors under cryogenic conditions (1.5 K). AIP Advances, 2020, 10 (2), pp.025305. ⟨10.1063/1.5140994⟩. ⟨hal-03095333⟩