Resistive swtiching on MgO-based metal-insulator-metal structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy

M. MENGHINI *,1, C. QUINTEROS2, C.-Y SU1, P. HOMM1, P. LEVY2, J. KITTL1 AND J.-P. LOCQUET1; LEVY

Strasbourg

Conferencia; E-MRS 2014 Spring Meeting Symp S; 2014

E-MRS

/includeWe report on non-polar switching of the resistance betweena low and a high resistive state in MgO-basedmetal-insulator-metal structures. The MgO films weregrown by MBE on top of Pt/Si substrates and Pt electrodeswere evaporated on top. The obtained resistanceratio is of the order of 108-109, much larger than previouslyreported values in similar devices. We observe agradual degradation during consecutive switching eventsand a significant large dispersion of the voltages at whichthe resistance switch occurs. The overall behavior of thedevices is assigned to a low defect density in these samples.The obtained results suggest that the resistiveswitching is produced by the formation and disruption ofMg metallic filaments. In order to analyze the influenceof interfaces, we also study the effect of adding an intermediatelayer of either Al2O3 or Mg within thePt/MgO/Pt structures. The switching performance appearsto be enhanced when Al2O3 is used.