R&D: Bipolar Resistive Switching in Magnetostrictive Ni/PZT/Pt Structure for Non-Volatile Memory Applications

ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology has published an article written by Savita Sharma, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India, and Physics Department, Kalindi College, University of Delhi, Delhi 110008, India, Surbhi Gupta, Reema Gupta, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India, Hitesh Borkar, Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Telangana 506004, India, Ashok Kumar, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr K. S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi-110012, India, Vinay Gupta, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India, and Monika Tomar, Physics Department, Miranda House, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India.

Abstract: “Resistive switching (RS) has significant potential for the forthcoming generation in logical and non-volatile memory devices. Owing to their switchable spontaneous polarization ferroelectric materials can be utilized for non-volatile memory applications, e.g., FeRAM, but their destructive readout scheme limits applications. The spontaneous electrical polarization of ferroelectric materials enhances the tuning charge properties at the ferroelectric/metal interface making them appropriate for RS applications. Here, the resistive switching performance of ferroelectric Pb(Zr_0.6Ti_0.4)O₃ (PZT) thin film grown on flexible Ni substrate using pulsed laser deposition were investigated. The PZT film showed both entrenched P-E ferroelectric hysteresis loop and reversible resistive switching behaviors with DC voltage sweep. Bipolar switching between a low resistance state to a high resistance state with a large ON/OFF ratio of 10² and resistance retention potential up to 10¹⁰ cycles was observed. The current conduction mechanism can be understood by dual logarithm I-V curve fitting. The obtained results encourage the utilization of prepared Ni/PZT/Pt widget for the non-volatile memory applications.“