Ionic memories: Status and challenges

Ionic memory is a type of resistive switching memories based on ionic transport and electrochemical reactions in solid-state electrolyte materials. In cation-migration-based ionic memories, cations transport through solid electrolyte under electric field and deposit as metal atoms to form connecting bridge between two electrodes. With repeatable resistance change over several orders of magnitude and long retention, ionic memory is a promising candidate for next generation non-volatile memories. The advantages of ionic memories include low operation voltage and highly scalable device size. As two-terminal devices with hysteretic resistive behavior, ionic memories may enable novel architectures and algorithms. The major challenge for ionic memories exists in operation reliability. This paper will review the R&D status of ionic memory technology and discuss the challenges.