Impact of Electrode Materials on Resistive-Switching Memory Programming

This letter addresses the impact of electrode materials on programming characteristics of NiO-based resistive-switching memory devices. The use of noble metals for the electrodes, instead of Si contacts, is shown to result in a lowering of the set/reset voltage. This is ascribed to a different chemical composition of the conductive filament (CF) in the set state for varying electrodes, suggesting that atomic diffusion from the electrodes takes place during the formation of the CF at the set process. The results are interpreted on the basis of numerical simulations of the reset transition, which are compared with experimental data.