Improving the resistive switching uniformity of forming-free TiO2−x based devices by embedded Pt nanocrystals

The resistive switching characteristics of TiN/Ti/TiO_2-x/Au devices containing Pt nanocrystals with different diameters, were systematically investigated. We demonstrate that comparing the reference with the Pt nanocrystals embedded devices, important enhancement of switching characteristics is obtained, in terms of uniformity and enlarged switching ratio. Our results indicate that the switching characteristics of TiO_2-x device are very strongly related with the control of conductive filaments´ growth within the dielectric layer, which stems from the local enhancement of the electric field in the vicinity of nanocrystals. This effect in conjunction with the room temperature fabrication process and the forming free nature of the thin films is considered as an optimization route of resistive random access memory design.