Programmable complementary resistive switching behaviours of a plasma-oxidised titanium oxide nanolayer

Through the one-step plasma oxidation of TiN thin films at room temperature (a simple semiconductor technology compatible method), a partly oxidised structure of titanium oxynitride (TiNxOy) with a TiO2−x nanolayer on top has been prepared for non-volatile resistive switching memory devices. The fabricated Pt/TiO2−x/TiNxOy/TiN memory devices demonstrate complementary resistive switching behaviours within an operation voltage of 1 V. The complementary resistive switching behaviours can be explained by redistribution of the oxygen vacancies between the Pt/TiO2−x top interface and the TiO2−x/TiNxOy bottom interface in the TiO2−x nanolayer. A model concerning the resistive switching mechanism as well as a recover program of a failed device is also proposed. Our work provides a possible cost-efficient solution to suppress the sneak-path problem in nanoscale crossbar memory arrays.