Effects of heat dissipation on unipolar resistance switching in Pt/NiO/Pt capacitors

Abstract

We fabricated Pt/NiO/Pt capacitor structures with various bottom electrode thicknesses t(BE) and investigated their resistance switching behaviors. The capacitors with t(BE)>= 50 nm exhibited typical unipolar resistance memory switching, while those with t(BE)<= 30 nm showed threshold switching. This interesting phenomenon can be explained in terms of the temperature-dependent stability of conducting filaments. In particular, the thinner tBE makes dissipation of Joule heat less efficient, so the filaments will be at a higher temperature and become less stable. This study demonstrates the importance of heat dissipation in resistance random access memory. (C) 2008 American Institute Of Physics.