The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Interface asymmetry induced by symmetric electrodes on metal-Al:TiOx-metal structures

Interface asymmetry induced by symmetric electrodes on metal-Al:TiOx-metal structures
Interface asymmetry induced by symmetric electrodes on metal-Al:TiOx-metal structures
Emerging memory technologies have sparked great interest in studying a variety of materials that can be employed in Metal-Insulator-Metal topologies to support resistive switching. While the majority of reports focus on identifying appropriate materials that can be used as active core layers, the selection of electrodes also impacts the performance of such memory devices. Here, both the top and the bottom interfaces of symmetric Metal-Al:TiOx-Metal structures have been investigated by the analysis of their current vs voltage characteristics in the temperature range of 300 K to 350 K. Three different metals were utilized as electrodes, Nb, Au and Pt, for covering a wide range of work function and electronegativity values. Despite their symmetric structure the devices were found to exhibit asymmetric performance with respect to the applied bias polarity. Clear signature plots indicating thermionic emission over the interface Schottky barriers have been obtained. The asymmetry between the top and the bottom interfaces was further evaluated by the values of the potential barrier heights and by the barrier lowering factors, both calculated from the experimental data. This study highlights the importance of the interface effects and proves that in addition to film doping, proper (top/bottom) metal selection and interface engineering should also be exploited for developing thin film metal oxide based devices with tailored electrical characteristics.
Michalas, Loukas
25d00d54-5900-485e-bd52-d3505fe881a7
Trapatseli, Maria
1aea9f6b-2790-48b4-85d5-e600e60f6406
Stathopoulos, Spyros
98d12f06-ad01-4708-be19-a97282968ee6
Cortese, Simone
11e9dba1-e712-4dd7-940f-b6609b3be3d4
Khiat, Ali
bf549ddd-5356-4a7d-9c12-eb6c0d904050
Prodromakis, Themistoklis
d58c9c10-9d25-4d22-b155-06c8437acfbf
Michalas, Loukas
25d00d54-5900-485e-bd52-d3505fe881a7
Trapatseli, Maria
1aea9f6b-2790-48b4-85d5-e600e60f6406
Stathopoulos, Spyros
98d12f06-ad01-4708-be19-a97282968ee6
Cortese, Simone
11e9dba1-e712-4dd7-940f-b6609b3be3d4
Khiat, Ali
bf549ddd-5356-4a7d-9c12-eb6c0d904050
Prodromakis, Themistoklis
d58c9c10-9d25-4d22-b155-06c8437acfbf

Michalas, Loukas, Trapatseli, Maria, Stathopoulos, Spyros, Cortese, Simone, Khiat, Ali and Prodromakis, Themistoklis (2017) Interface asymmetry induced by symmetric electrodes on metal-Al:TiOx-metal structures. IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology. (doi:10.1109/TNANO.2017.2777698).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Emerging memory technologies have sparked great interest in studying a variety of materials that can be employed in Metal-Insulator-Metal topologies to support resistive switching. While the majority of reports focus on identifying appropriate materials that can be used as active core layers, the selection of electrodes also impacts the performance of such memory devices. Here, both the top and the bottom interfaces of symmetric Metal-Al:TiOx-Metal structures have been investigated by the analysis of their current vs voltage characteristics in the temperature range of 300 K to 350 K. Three different metals were utilized as electrodes, Nb, Au and Pt, for covering a wide range of work function and electronegativity values. Despite their symmetric structure the devices were found to exhibit asymmetric performance with respect to the applied bias polarity. Clear signature plots indicating thermionic emission over the interface Schottky barriers have been obtained. The asymmetry between the top and the bottom interfaces was further evaluated by the values of the potential barrier heights and by the barrier lowering factors, both calculated from the experimental data. This study highlights the importance of the interface effects and proves that in addition to film doping, proper (top/bottom) metal selection and interface engineering should also be exploited for developing thin film metal oxide based devices with tailored electrical characteristics.

Text
Accepted Manuscript-Interface Asymmetry Induced by Symmetric Electrodes on Metal-Al-TiOx-Metal-Structures - Accepted Manuscript
Download (6MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 15 November 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 December 2017

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 417179
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/417179
PURE UUID: 89da6cf6-b6b5-4d23-8fcc-cc4b067d0105
ORCID for Spyros Stathopoulos: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0833-6209
ORCID for Themistoklis Prodromakis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6267-6909

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 23 Jan 2018 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:57

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Loukas Michalas
Author: Maria Trapatseli
Author: Spyros Stathopoulos ORCID iD
Author: Simone Cortese
Author: Ali Khiat
Author: Themistoklis Prodromakis ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×