Read disturb and device failure studies in TiO2-based resistive switches

Bipolar resistive switching in oxide-based devices (metal/oxide/metal (MIM)) has attracted widespread attention in recent years due to its potential application in next generation nonvolatile memory technology.^[1,2] These devices exhibit two non-volatile resistance states, and switching between them can be accomplished by application of electrical pulses with opposite polarities.^[3] The low resistance ON state is attributed to the formation of a conductive path that connects both electrodes. The high resistance state corresponds to a rupture of this path, forming a high resistance gap.^[4] Although extensive research has been conducted to understand the nature of resistive switching and improve the device functionalities, there are still unresolved issues such as read disturb and device failure mechanisms. Here, we adopt an in situ biasing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique to report microstructural changes that occur when the device experiences low-bias, akin to read disturb and its subsequent evolution using a model TiO₂-based resistive switch. We also studied microstructural changes occurring during resistive switching and confirm the device is switchable inside of the TEM column.