Effect of the programming pulse width on resistive memory switching behavior

Electrical pulse programming provides more practical and precise assessment of the resistive memory performance, and also provides another angle of view on the switching mechanism investigation. This work presents the bipolar switching of the TaO_x-based resistive memory devices using electrical pulses. The SET process is almost independent on the pulse width. However, significant reduction in the RESET voltage and current can be obtained using long pulse, which is attributed to the Joule heating effect during the RESET process. With longer pulse, lower RESET voltage and current can be realized because more heat is generated which assists the RESET process. In addition, the high resistance state is easily controlled by the RESET amplitude when long pulse is applied.