Resistive Switching Properties of ZrO₂ Film by Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition for Non-volatile Memory Applications

Resistive switching properties of nanoscale zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂) thin film deposited by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) have been investigated. A resistive memory device has been formed with a 10-nm-thick ZrO₂ film as an active switching layer sandwiched between an aluminum top electrode and a silver bottom electrode. Bipolar resistive switching characteristics were demonstrated by current–voltage measurements with a read memory window of 6.6 V, an ON/OFF current ratio of nearly 10⁵ , and a retention time of 10⁴ s. Current conduction at low resistance states follows Ohm’s law while at a high-resistance state governed by space charge limited conduction. These indicate that the switching mechanism is attributed to filamentary conduction. A SPICE model was applied to model the device, with simulation measurement data in good agreement. This study proves the potential applications of PE-ALD ZrO₂ for non-volatile resistive random access memories.