Symposium EM10 : Emerging Materials and Technologies for Nonvolatile Memories

Cation diffusion dynamics, especially the sensitivity to the delay between spikes, contribute to the learning functions of biological synapses. Nonvolatile electronic memristors have been a leading candidate to simulate/emulate synapse function for neuromorphic computing. However, many memristors that are used for data storage and memory are active only during the application of a voltage pulse, and thus do not display the delayed temporal response of an actual synapse. These dynamics can be incorporated into a second memristor, a diffusive memristor, that has a similar physical mechanism to its bio-counterpart based on metal atom diffusion that persists after the power to the device is switched off. The combination of these two types of memristors in series provides a direct functional emulation of both short-term and long-term plasticity of synapses to yield power efficient learning for neuromorphic computing, which is just one of many applications enabled by the diffusive memristor.

Vanadium dioxide (VO₂) is a prototypical correlated oxide system that possesses a monoclinic insulating state at room temperature and transforms to metallic state with tetragonal rutile structure when heated to 67°C in pristine form. The voltage-driven phase change is considered a threshold switch, since removal of the voltage leads to recovery of the insulating state by thermal relaxation in two-terminal devices. However, when point defects are introduced into the oxide, non-volatile resistance changes can be realized. This is because of the intricate interplay between disorder, orbital overlap and electronic structure in correlated oxides. We will present a comparison of vanadium dioxide films grown by RF-sputtering and atomic layer deposition with respect to their electrical properties and switching characteristics. Introduction of oxygen vacancies by low pressure annealing leads to substantial suppression of the insulating phase and can be mimicked by electrolyte gating in three-terminal devices. Such memory devices enable homogenous switching of the phase in a non-volatile manner and are of growing interest to a variety of memory technologies in electronics (resistance switching) and photonics (programmable metasurfaces). We will then compare crystalline, defective vanadium dioxide with properties of amorphous vanadium oxide films to illustrate how crystallinity influences the ionic versus electronic nature of resistance switching and endurance.

Abstract—Niobium oxide (NbOx) memristor devices have gained a surge of recent attention due to their application as selectors in storage-class resistive random access memory (ReRAM). The underlying principle of these devices is the local activity exhibited by NbOx upon an energy stimulus, often seen as a region of negative differential resistance (NDR) in a plot of current and voltage.
In this work we investigated the physics behind the NDR behavior in NbOx devices by performing scanning transmission synchroton x-ray spectromicroscopy experiments. In order to explore this technique, similarly as we did with TaOx material [1], the devices need to be fabricated on Si₃N₄ membranes. A thin materials stack of ~60 nm is required by this technique to enable soft x-ray transmission in the O K-edge spectral region (500-600 eV). Recently, NbOx based devices were reported with strong NDR behavior. However, the total thickness of these devices was ~100 nm.

We fabricated crossbar devices with 1.5 µm electrodes on membranes with a thickness of ~ 50 nm. The device size was dictated by scanning transmission synchroton x-ray spectromicroscopy limitation. The spatial resolution of this characterization method is 30 nm, furthermore the smallest devices seen by this technique range between 0.5 µm and 5 µm.
Here we experimented with various growth conditions for reactively sputtered NbOx films. We explored films grown from a NbO₂ and Nb₂O₅ targets. We built devices with a variety of film stacks, especially with the inclusion of a reactive electrode material, TiN. We correlated these variations with their electrical characteristics and identified growth parameters and the resulting film’s compositional and structural characteristics that allowed the devices to exhibit NDR. We found that the presence of a TiN electrode was necessary for NDR. There have been several recent efforts to model the origins of the NDR behavior based on multiple conduction mechanisms.

Reference:
[1] K. Suhas, C. Graves, J. P. Strachan, E. Merced, D. Kilcoyne, T. Tyliszczak, J. N. Weker, Y. Nishi and R. S. Williams, “Direct Observation of Localized Radial Oxygen Migration in Functioning Tantalum Oxide Memristors,” Advanced Materials, 28, 14 (2016), pp. 2772-2776.

Vanadium oxide (VO_x) thin films were grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and treated with hydrogen plasma to control the stoichiometry-related properties for nonvolatile memory applications. Instead of relying mainly on precursor and temperature conditions, hydrogen plasma was pulsed during the ALD cycle which provides an additional ability to finely tune properties correlated to the amount of oxygen deficiency in the films. Such capabilities were used to control the transport properties and enhance the performance of metal/VO_x/metal memristive devices, where non-stoichiometric defects such as oxygen vacancies play a critical role on the device performance. Various hydrogen plasma processing conditions and the effects on stoichiometry, morphology, crystallinity, and electrical properties will be addressed. The mechanisms involved in the enhanced performance of the working devices will also be discussed in this presentation.

Resistive Random-Access Memories (ReRAMs, or memristors), are attracting industry attention as a new technology to replace Flash nonvolatile memories. Further, the impedance value can be tuned by the adjustment of both resistance and capacitance values giving the MEM-Impedance (MEM-Z).In a recent work on HfO₂ MEM-Z [1], we demonstrated that the imaginary part of Resistive Random-Access Memories could be switched by external bias.
Thus, such devices could be used in tunable electronic circuits , such as reconfugurable impedance matching network, reconfigurable amplifiers, programmable filters and oscillators. In order to make possible these applications, a good control of the impedance value and the possibility to change the impedance range of use by an external excitation will be necessary.
In this work, we first present new capabilities of HfO₂ MEM-Z structures elaborated by atomic layer deposition (ALD). For that, various external excitations were tested as the amplitude of the alternating voltage, the temperature (from 25°C to 125°C), the frequency of the signal. Results will be discussed as a function of these excitations and their combination on the value of resistance and capacitance and on the range of set – reset.
In a complementary study, we developed thin ALD TiO₂-HfO₂ stacks to create MEM-Z structures. The peculiar migration of defects which control impedance transition in such structures allows obtaining new performances for electronic applications.





[1]. T. Wakrim, C. Vallée, P. Gonon, C. Mannequin, and A. Sylvestre “From MEMRISTOR to MEMImpedance device”. Applied Physics Letters 108, 053502 (2016);

Resistive switching memories based on electrochemical systems (ReRAMs) are intensively studied in aspects of applications ranging from non-volatile memories to selector devices, logic operations and neuromorphic functionalities.
Detailed studies in recent years have reported details on the device kinetics and charge transport including in situ, ex situ experimental analysis and modeling for both ECM and VCM type cells.
In this talk the latest achievements on fundamental aspects in the field will be discussed. The focus will be set on the redox reactions preceding and influencing the resistive switching and the effects of moisture, strongly tuning the electrochemical behavior and cell/device performance. The processes of (electro)chemical oxidation/passivation of metals at Me/MeOx interfaces (Me = Ta, Hf, Al, Ti etc.) and its influence on the SET/RESET mechanism in VCM will be highlighted.
The role of the host cation motion in oxides such as TaOx, HfOx and TiOx will also be shown as bridging the ECM and VCM mechanisms.

The development of high permittivity oxides (high k) for advanced metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures is a key for advanced microelectronics to achieve high density capacitors. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is one of the most attractive high k candidates due to its high dielectric constant. TiO₂ can be deposited, in anatase or rutile phase, by ALD using an organometallic precursor of titanium and an oxygen source. Dielectric constant of rutile TiO₂ is higher but rutile is only possible at high deposition temperature. Rutile phase at low temperature can be obtained by depositing TiO₂ on (rutile) RuO₂ thanks to the small lattice mismatch between these two materials. However, many experimental results point out the role of oxygen source. Indeed, it has been shown that using H₂O as oxygen source leads to an anatse phase TiO₂, even when deposited on RuO₂ layer.
In the first part of this paper, we show that the dependance of TiO₂ crystalline phase on the oxidant species can be explained by the nature of the interfacial chemical reactions taking place at the first stages of TiO₂ growth. Indeed, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and depth-resolved XPS analysis indicated the presence of Ru-Ti bonds and the Ti₂O₃ titanium oxide bonds when H₂O is used as oxygen source. Thanks to these results, a chemical reactional scheme is proposed to explain the pathways that lead to anatase or rutile TiO₂ phase, depending on the oxidant species. In the first stage of the ALD process, titanium precursor reduces the RuO₂ to produce Ru-Ti-O that is re-oxidized to give RuO₂ and TiO₂ when O₂ plasma is used. Rutile TiO₂ is thus grown thanks to the RuO₂ template. When H₂O is used as oxidant, the Ru-Ti-O is furher reduced to give Ru-Ti bond and Ti₂O₃ monolayer. Subsequent ALD cycles lead to progressive transformation of RuO₂ into metallic Ru and to the growth of TiO₂, but on a Ti₂O₃ monolayer. In this case, anatse TiO₂ is obtained.
In the second part of this paper, we study the influence of the RuO₂ layer composition on the electrical properties of the deposited TiO₂ layer. Indeed, RuO₂ is obtained by O₂ plasma oxidation at 400°C at different durations. When oxidation time increases, RuO₂ chemical bonds are modified. It will be shown that stoichiometric RuO₂ leads to the growth of TiO₂ exhibiting better electrical properties in term of dielectric constant.

Metal oxide memristors, or resistive random access memory (ReRAM), are gaining academic and commercial interest due to their potential to provide next-generation storage-class memory, while there is much to be understood in terms of the nanoscale physico-chemical nature of their operation. Building a compact predictive circuit model of their behavior is critical in their successful commercial deployment. One of the bottlenecks in coming up with such a comprehensive model is the lack of complete understanding of the nanoscale mechanisms involved in formation and dissolution of conduction channel during resistance switching in memristors. In particular, the presence and sign (direction) of thermophoresis (temperature-gradient-driven force) of oxygen atoms has been under controversy. Using nanoscale x-ray spectromicroscopy, we recently observed radial migration of oxygen perpendicular to the direction of current flow upon resistance switching of micrometer-sized hafnium oxide memristors. We identified a stable sub-100 nm cylindrical channel of high conductivity rich in oxygen vacancies, surrounded by a sub-500 nm concentric region of relatively lower conductivity rich in oxygen interstitials. This result is consistent with our previous study on tantalum oxide memrsistors [Advanced Materials, 28, 2772 (2016)], which indicates the universality of this phenomenon in metal oxide memristors.

Using a combination of mainly Soret effect (thermophoresis) driven by temperature gradients and Fick diffusion driven by concentration gradients, we show that we are able to successfully make a 3-dimensional model of the formation and dissolution of the oxygen rings. Here we used multiple coupled domains: temporal evolution of temperature profile using the heat equation, Soret and Fick diffusions acting on the oxygen defects, joule heating from the device current, convective and conductive cooling within different materials and mechanical deformation of electrodes. In addition, we show that the formation and dissolution of the oxygen rings are modeled by significantly different diffusion parameters, highlighting an important asymmetry in memristor operation. We argue that this critical insight originates from the fact that during conduction channel formation and stabilization, the oxygen defects (vacancies and interstitials) cluster by overcoming the columbic repulsions, which have to be broken down in order to dissolve the ring. Such clustering does not exist in an as-grown film, which explain the asymmetry in the diffusion parameters.

The development of intrinsic resistive RAM (ReRAM) technologies is a stage toward the fabrication of CMOS compatible, post FLASH memory arrays. However, the reliability of these devices is uncertain due gaps in the understanding of the electrically driven transformations occurring during switching. Our test devices are composed of thin, amorphous silicon suboxide layers sandwiched between various metallic electrodes. We have previously demonstrated three-dimensional profiling of the conductive channels that govern switching, often referred to as filaments. Additionally, we have shown that oxygen is lost from devices during switching. This loss and the corresponding formation of a conductive region must be better understood for ReRAM to be optimised and integrated into consumer electronics. Here, using a combination of conductance tomography and Raman spectroscopy we present results that allow us to begin spatially correlating the electronic, structural and compositional changes. We demonstrate that the conductive regions of the switching layer correspond to a reduction in structural disorder and an increase in silicon-silicon coordination. These results support the model of oxygen reliance in which the conductivity of the active layer is increased as oxygen is removed.

Programmable metallization memory cells operating on the filamentary switching mechanism have demonstrated promising performance in areas of cycle endurance, area scaling, retention, and power use. However, the underlying redox processes and ion migration that lead to the formation and disruption of a conductive filament under high electric field, and their dependence on the structure of the oxide dielectric layer, are not fully understood, leading to large inter-device and intra-device variability. In particular, the nano-scaled nature of the conductive filament has posed a major experimental challenge for traditional morphological and chemical thin film analysis techniques, so that basic questions regarding the shape, volume, and multiplicity of conductive filaments and the dependence of these features on oxide microstructure remain unknown. In this work, we have applied a serial scribing technique, utilizing conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) to locate conductive filaments and controllably etch through the oxide layer so that a nanometer resolution 3-D tomographic image of conductive regions within the insulating oxide layer is obtained. The morphology of conductive filaments was studied in p+Si/HfO₂/Cu and TiN/HfO₂/Cu structures after chemical removal of the copper top contact. The microstructure of the HfO₂ switching layer was varied between amorphous, textured, and randomly oriented polycrystalline under variable atomic layer growth temperature, and post-deposition annealing temperature, and the morphology of conductive regions was correlated with the initial microstructure of the oxide dielectric. Hence, a comparison between oxide layer microstructure and morphology and distribution of the initially formed filaments will be presented. Device IV behavior, as well as reactive molecular dynamics simulations of ion migration within the oxide dielectric are used to interpret the resulting filament morphology. Here, the implementation of a non-standard CAFM technique offers unique insight into the dependence of conductive filament morphology on oxide microstructure, and the possible impacts on device variability.

Resistive Random Access Memories (ReRAMs) is one of the promising simple devices for new-generation nonvolatile memories. A resistive switching (RS) phenomenon, namely reversible transitions between the low and high resistance states after forming process, is believed to be caused by the formation and rupture of a conductive filament. We reported that filaments including a Quantum Point Contact (QPC) in Pt/NiO/Pt stack structures were formed by semi-forming, the first step of the forming under voltage sweeping [1]. Although quantized conductance steps have been reported in other ReRAM cells [2, 3], the appearance condition of the quantized conductance remains unclear. In this study, we examine microscopic structures and the appearance condition of QPC in Pt/NiO/Pt cells.
Pt as a bottom electrode was deposited by sputtering, and subsequently a NiO thin film was deposited by reactive radio-frequency sputtering. Cross-sectional Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) revealed that a NiO layer exhibits a columnar polycrystalline structure with a grain diameter of tens of nm. When the NiO layer was sputtered at a selected O₂ flow rate, two different modes of the forming were observed in a cell. After semi-forming, the cell exhibited several discrete conductance values characterized by integer multiples of G₀=2e²/h. Note that RS behaviors were confirmed after both semi-forming and second forming. The results suggest that semi-forming occurs by the formation of filaments including a QPC and second forming occurs by the formation of a new filament.
When the O₂ flow rate during sputtering was relatively high, the cells showed single (conventional) forming. At a relatively low O₂ flow rate, on the other hand, the cell did not exhibit forming because of low resistance. In High-angle Annular Dark Field Scanning TEM analyses of NiO layers sputtered at lower O₂ flow rate, more bright spots were randomly observed at grain-boundary triple-points in NiO layers. Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that the average composition ratio of O to Ni along the thickness direction at triple-points is smaller than the value within grains. These results indicate that conductive filaments are formed along Ni- or Vo-rich grain boundaries, and that the composition ratios (O/Ni) both equivalent to and larger than a critical value are required to create a filament including a QPC and another filament formed by second forming. Furthermore, it is confirmed that cells with a smaller size tend to exhibit larger semi-forming voltage or single forming and that cells with a larger size show lower resistance. This cell size dependence suggests that defects (Ni or Vo) which act as the source of a filament including a QPC by semi-forming are randomly distributed in a NiO layer according to Poisson statistics.
[1] H. Sasakura, et al, Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 233510 (2015).
[2] T. Tsuruoka, et al., Nanotechnol. 21, 425205 (2010).
[3] S. Long, et al., Sci. Rep. 3, 2929 (2013).

Resistive Random-Access Memories (ReRAMs, or memristors), are attracting industry attention as a new technology to replace Flash nonvolatile memories. ReRAMs make use of resistance switching in metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures which are subjected to voltage biasing. Up to now, attention was focused on dc resistance transition. Less attention has been paid to the impedance variation, i.e. to the influence of voltage biasing on ac conductance and capacitance in ReRAM devices.
In a recent work on HfO₂ ReRAMs [1], we demonstrated that the capacitance, and more generally the imaginary part of RRAM devices, can also be switched by external bias. This paves the way for the realization of capacitive switching memories, or memcapacitors. Besides digital memory applications, memcapacitors could also be used in a broad range of electronic applications, such as reconfigurable RF circuits. From the fundamental point of view, impedance studies can provide information about conduction mechanisms and related switching phenomena.
This work aims to better understand the mechanisms of ac conductance and capacitance variation in ReRAM devices. Studied devices are HfO₂ MIM structures elaborated by atomic layer deposition. Devices are subjected to a constant dc voltage bias, and the impedance (real and imaginary parts) is recorded as a function of time. This allows us to follow kinetics of impedance switching, i.e. of both the ac conductance and the capacitance transition. Measurements are carried out at different frequencies and at different temperatures. The frequency and temperature dependence of the impedance in the high and low resistive states is discussed along ac conduction and polarization models implying intrinsic and bias-induced defects. Study of the capacitance switching time, as a function of bias, brings further information about the generation rate of defects which control impedance transition.






[1]. T. Wakrim, C. Vallée, P. Gonon, C. Mannequin, and A. Sylvestre “From MEMRISTOR to MEMImpedance device”. Applied Physics Letters 108, 053502 (2016);

Oxygen defects can have profound effects on the properties of transition metal oxides. For instance, electromigration of oxygen vacancies provides a viable mechanism for the formation, rupture and reconstruction of conducting filaments in insulating oxides [1, 2], an effect used in nanoscale resistive switching devices. In complex oxides where magnetic, ferroelectric and superconducting phases emerge from strong correlations between localized transition metal valence electrons, oxygen vacancies can radically alter a plurality of intrinsic properties via valance changes or structural phase transitions [3]. The ability to reversibly control the concentration and profile of oxygen vacancies in oxide nanostructures would open comprehensive prospects for new functional ionic devices. Advancements in this direction require experimental techniques that allow for simultaneous measurements of oxygen vacancy dynamics, atomic-scale structural transitions and macroscopic physical properties.
Here, we use in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to demonstrate reversible switching between distinctive resistance states in functional transition metal oxide films. The switching events are not based on dielectric breakdown via the formation of filaments in an insulating oxide. Instead, simultaneous high-resolution imaging and resistance probing reveal that the resistive switching is directly correlated to the nucleation and growth of uniform structural phases. Reversible migration of oxygen vacancies between the Nb-doped SrTiO₃ substrate and the conducting oxide films, induced using combined effects of Joule heating and bias voltage, triggers the structural and resistive transitions. Our experimental findings, which are reproduced by numerical electro-thermal simulations, open clear paths to active ionic control of other properties of transition metal oxides, including magnetism, ferroelectricity, and superconductivity. Transfer of this ionotronics concept to lithographically defined oxide nanostructures is anticipated to promote the emergence of new devices with ionically controlled functions.
[1] R. Waser and M. Aono, Nature Mater. 6, 833 (2007).
[2] J.J. Yang, D.B. Strukov, and D.R. Stewart, Nature Nanotech. 8, 13 (2013).
[3] S. Kalinin and N.A. Spaldin, Science 341, 858 (2013).

Redox-based resistive switching devices (ReRAM) are a potential candidate for non-volatile high-density memory and oxide-based devices have been highly investigated in the recent years. Switching from a high resistive state (HRS) to a low resistive state (LRS) is called SET, the reverse process requires the application of voltages with opposite polarity and is named RESET. In oxide-based devices, also called valence change mechanism memory (VCM) and consisting of a metal-oxide-metal structure, switching is commonly believed to rely on the formation and dissolution of an oxygen-deficient conductive filament.
A better understanding of the interplay of the involved processes is crucial for future application. Therefore, an experimental study of the SET kinetics of 100 x 100 nm² Pt/8 nm Ti rich STO/TiN devices was conducted covering 13 orders of magnitude in switching time. The current transients are thoroughly analyzed revealing that SET switching is a two-part process irrespective of the applied voltage. Before the abrupt switching event a slow degradation process with small increase in current exists. This degradation process is characterized by a non-volatile change in resistance and the resulting slope depends on the applied pulse magnitude. Also the transition time defined as characteristic for the abrupt switching event is found to rely on the voltage.
The experimental results are motivated by simulations with a physics-based compact model. Using an average oxygen vacancy concentration as state variable, SET switching is described by the temperature and field dependent change of the ion concentration near the Pt/STO-interface. The simulation results show that the slow change in resistance before the abrupt switching event is related to a non-volatile change in oxygen vacancy concentration. Also the voltage dependent different slopes of the change can be explained with the same underlying physics. The abrupt switching event is characterized by a thermal runaway resulting from a positive feedback between change in ion concentration, temperature rise, and current increase. Further, the influence of electric field and temperature on the transition time is studied separately.

Among several emerging technologies for the nonvolatile memory, resistive switching memory based on metal ion transport in a thin ionic conductor film is one of the most attractive candidates, because of their high ON/OFF resistance ratio, excellent scalability, and high speed switching time. From the similarity of the operation mechanism of a ‘gap-type atomic switch’ [1], metal-ion-transport-based resistive memories are referred to as a ‘gapless-type atomic switch’ [2].
We have investigated the operation mechanism of Cu,Ag/Ta₂O₅/Pt atomic switch cells as a model system and have demonstrated their unique functions, which cannot be realized by conventional semiconductor switches. Ta₂O₅-based atomic switch exhibits bipolar resistive switching behavior under bias voltage sweeping, in which SET and RESET processes are attributed to the formation of a metal filament by nucleation on Pt and the dissolution of the filament due to thermochemical reactions, respectively [3]. It was found that moisture absorption of the matrix oxide plays a crucial role in redox reactions of Cu (Ag) and resistive switching behavior [4], in relation to the film morphology [5,6]. The switch also exhibits conductance quantization and synaptic/memristive behaviors, indicating its potential for use in neural computing systems [7].
We have also demonstrated that an atomic switch can be realized using a solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) [8]. Ag/SPE/Pt atomic switches, fabricated with a mixture of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and Ag salt, showed bipolar resistive switching under bias voltage sweeping, similar to oxide-based atomic switches. SPE switches inkjet-printed on a plastic substrate showed stable switching behavior upon substrate bending, indicating their great potential for flexible switch/memory applications [9]. Moreover, we succeeded to observe the filament growth behavior in a planar structure [10] and found kinetic factors determining the growth processes in SPE-based switches [11]. The quantized conductance can also be observed in this system [12].

[1] Terabe et al., Nature 433 (2005) 47, [2] Hasegawa et al., MRA Bull. 34 (2009) 929, [3] Tsuruoka et al., Nanotechnology 21 (2010) 425205; 22 (2011) 254013, [4] Tsuruoka et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 22 (2012) 70, [5] Tsuruoka et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 25 (2015) 6347; Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 55 (2016) 06GK02, [6] C. Mannequin et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 55 (2016) 06GJ09; Nanotechnology (submitted), [7] Tsuruoka et al., Nanotechnology 23 (2012) 435705, [8] S. Wu, Adv. Funct. Mater. 21 (2011) 93, [9] S. Mohapatra et al., AIP Adv. 2 (2012) 022144, [10] K. Krishnan et al., Adv. Mater. 28 (2016) 640; Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 55 (2016) 06GK02, [11] K. Krishnan et al., Nanoscale (published online), [12] K. Krishnan et al., (submitted).

One of interface-type resistive switching is considered to originate from the movements of oxygen vacancies near the electrode/oxide interface, showing also bipolar switching. However, there remains an essential issue that the interface-type switching in various perovskite oxides has not been investigated in detail. In this work, we have tried to increase oxygen vacancies in MOD-made BaTiO₃ (BT) thin film by nitrogen annealing especially near the interface, thereafter evaluated the effect on the endurance properties of BT thin film diode.

MOD solution with a stoichiometric composition of BT was spin-coated on the Pt(111)/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates at 500 rpm-3 s/4,000 rpm-30 s. After the spin coating, the film was dried on a hot plate. Thereafter, in air or N₂ (gas flow rate: 0.1 L/min), it was pre-annealed at 450 degree C -5 min at every coating, and final-annealed 800 degree C -5 min using an RTA apparatus. These processes were repeated triple to obtain about 120 nm-thickness. After a final annealing, Au top electrode was deposited by evaporation.

The annealing steps were composed of pre-/final-annealing in air/air, air/N₂, and N₂/ N₂, respectively. After the final annealing, we analyzed the O 1s spectrum of BT thin film near the surface by XPS. The curve was deconvoluted to three peaks that are assigned to O^2- bound to Ti⁴⁺, O^2- bound to Ti³⁺, which is one of the origins for the formation of oxygen vacancies, and the adsorbed oxygen. From the obtained XPS results, the increase in oxygen vacancies near the surface by N₂ annealing was implied by the increase in the magnitude of the O^2- bound to Ti³⁺ peak intensity.
The BT film showed little relation with a conduction path as a filament-type because, in each annealing condition, we confirmed the resistance hysteresis forminglessly from the first I-V measurement with no step-like current change. Also, the BT diode current decreased monotonously by reducing the electrode area, indicating the diode is not filament-type but interface one.
BT thin films with both pre- and final-annealing in N₂ showed ON/OFF ratio of 1 digit or more in resistance hysteresis until 10⁶ endurance cycles, although in air/N₂ and air/air annealing, they were less than 10³ and 10⁰. This also suggests that pre-annealing in N₂ is intrinsically effective to improve the endurance behavior, thus implying that not only the interface but also the middle part of the film would contribute the interface-type mechanism.

BT film with pre- and final-annealed in N₂ showed the endurance properties of 10⁶ switching cycles. It was suggested that oxygen vacancies near the electrode/oxide interface are increased by N₂ annealing and enhanced the interface-type resistive switching. Pre-annealing in N₂ was also found to be very effective to improve endurance properties, implying that not only the interface but also the middle part of the film would contribute the interface-type mechanism.

Resistive switching devices, where the resistance states of capacitor-like metal-insulator-metal structures are reversibly switched by an applied electric field, are promising for a wide range of applications including non-volatile random access memories and bio-inspired neuromorphic computing. However, the underlying atomic mechanisms governing the change in resistance are still unclear, which prevents their widespread application. In-situ X-ray investigations of devices at real operation conditions with chemical specificity and structural sensitivity are extremely valuable for clarifying the mechanisms. Here we report on an in-situ study of resistive switching processes in epitaxial WO₃ thin films by synchrotron X-ray multimodal imaging at the Advanced Photon Source.

The mechanisms behind resistive switching of oxide thin films are believed to be redox reactions that create or annihilate oxygen vacancies and migration of those oxygen vacancies under an electric field. In-situ X-ray characterization has the capability to test this hypothesis. The valence state change of tungsten ions during redox reactions is shown by micro-fluorescence imaging around tungsten absorption edge. At the same time, the lattice distortions and changes in oxygen content/octahedral tilt during the formation and migration of oxygen vacancies are monitored by changes to the integer-order and half-order diffraction peaks. The length scale of real space features during resistive switching is on the order of a few mm, which is well resolved with a sub-micron focused X-ray beams. The insights gained from these in-situ experiments will be discussed in the context of improved performance and new device design.

ransparent electronics is an emerging technology that involves ‘invisible’ electronic circuitry and optoelectronic devices, such as building-integrated photovoltaics and touch panel displays. In the sheer electronics communication, transparent nonvolatile memory devices are required. Al₂O₃ is promising as a resistive switching material in addition to its wide band gap (~7 eV), large dielectric strength (~5 MV/cm), high permittivity (~8), and good thermal stability. Among a variety of 2-D nanomaterials, graphene has motivated wide-ranging scientific and engineering studies because of its excellent mechanical, thermal, and electronic properties. Graphene is an emerging nanomaterial for the next generation of faster and smaller electronic devices, such as solar cells, light emitting diodes, and photodetectors. It is of great interest for various nano-electronic device applications especially due to its low sheet resistance and high optical transparency.
With this motivation, we studied the resistive switching characteristics of Graphene/Al₂O₃/ITO heterostructures for transparent resistive memory applications. Amorphous Al₂O₃ thin films of ~50 nm thickness was deposited by remote-plasma enhanced ALD in a self-limiting vapor-phase chemisorption window on ITO coated glass substrates kept a temperature of 200 ^oC using trimethyl-aluminum precursor and oxygen plasma. Bilayer graphene synthesized by hot filament chemical vapor deposition method was transferred onto the thin film of Al₂O₃ as a top metal electrode by standard poly(methyl methacrylate) assisted wet-transfer method. Transmission spectroscopy studies of the Graphene/Al₂O₃/ITO-coated-glass heterostructure showed a high average transmittance of ~80 % within the visible wavelength region from 400 to 800 nm. The above non-volatile memory structures exhibited a typical bipolar, reliable, and reproducible resistive switching behavior, with ON/OFF resistance ratio (>20), narrow spread of set and reset voltages, better switching endurance up to 10³ cycles, and longer data retention (>10³ s) in a temperature range of 200–400 K. The possible resistance switching and current conduction mechanisms in these potential transparent trilayer memory devices will be presented.

The emergence of room-temperature ferroelectric polarization in ultra-thin films of otherwise nonferroelectric SrTiO₃ was recently demonstrated and attributed to the electrically induced alignment of polar nanoregions that can naturally form due to the presence of intrinsic defects in SrTiO₃ [1, 2]. This effect can enable a considerable increase in the storage capacity of nonvolatile ferroelectric memories by using low-dimensional ferroelectric structures. Here we aim to establish a better atomic-scale understanding of the influence that various intrinsic defects can have on polarization behavior of bulk and thin-film SrTiO₃ by means of density-functional-theory based calculations. Specifically, our calculations show that titanium antisite defects (Ti_Sr) should result in high polarization and low coercive field crucial for nonvolatile device applications, but the presence of oxygen vacancies bound to Ti_Sr leads to a non-insulating state and makes the polarization switching irreversible due to much higher switching barriers between polarization states. The impact of other intrinsic defects and defect clusters in bulk and thin films of SrTiO₃ will also be discussed in the context of polarization switching mechanism.

References
[1] M Choi, F Oba, and I Tanaka. Role of Ti antisite-like defects in SrTiO3. Physical Review Letters, 103(18):185502, 2009.
[2] D Lee, H Lu, Y Gu, S-Y Choi, S-D Li, S Ryu, TR Paudel, K Song, E Mikheev, S Lee, et al. Emergence of room-temperature ferroelectricity at reduced dimensions. Science, 349(6254):1314-1317, 2015.

For practical use of Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM), understanding of the resistive switching (RS) mechanism in transition metal oxides (TMO) is important. Some papers predict its mechanism by using first-principles (FP) calculation; for example, TMO become conductive by introducing oxygen vacancies (Vo) in bulk single crystalline TMO [1]. However, most of ReRAM samples have polycrystalline structures [2]. We have constructed a grain model, a triangle pole structure with a trigonal pyramid on it, based on our experimental data and suggested that the RS is caused on the side surfaces of the grain, SSG, (i.e. grain boundaries) of polycrystalline NiO films [3].

In this study, we checked the adequacy and universality of our model by new experimental method and FP calculations [4] for various MgO surfaces, MgO which has the same crystalline structure with NiO.

A Pt top electrode (EL) was deposited on NiO/Pt structure by sputtering method (SD-EL: sputter-deposited electrode). We also used a soft-probe [5] with which we can form an electric contact without physically damaging the surface of samples. By contacting the Pt soft-probe to the surface of the NiO/Pt film, a Pt/NiO/Pt structure is formed in the contact area (SC-EL: a soft-probe contact electrode). The forming, V_form, set, V_set, and reset voltage, V_reset, were extracted from I-V characteristics.

V_form 's of SC-EL samples (9.0 ~ 13.0 V) are much higher than those of SD-EL samples (2.0 ~ 5.0 V), whereas V_set's and V_reset's have no clear difference between the SC- and SD-EL samples. Conductivities of the SD-EL samples strongly depends on the surface conductivities of the SSG because the Pt SD-EL contacts to the rough polycrystalline NiO surface burying the concaves. Accordingly, the electric current flows from the SD-EL to the SSG without flowing through the {001} surfaces of the trigonal pyramid. For SC-EL samples, on the other hands, the Pt SC-EL contacts only on tops of the trigonal pyramids (i.e. insulating {001} surfaces) and the electric current must flow through there. Accordingly, V_form of SC-EL samples are higher than those of SD-EL samples.

This experimental results supports our RS mechanism [3], V_o exists on {11-2} surfaces, (i.e. grain boundaries) and its electronic states become insulating (metallic) by disruption (cohesion) of V_o's.

Our FP calculations for MgO surfaces indicate that the band gap of MgO depends on surface orientations. This tendency is also observed in NiO and suggests that the RS is caused with the same mechanism of NiO regardless of magnetism.

[1] H. D. Lee, B. M-. Kope and Y. Nishi, Phys. Rev. B 81, 193202 (2010).
[2] S. Seo et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 85, 5655 (2004).
[3] T. Moriyama et al., MRS Adv. Accepted.
[4] T. Ohno et al., SC'07 Proceedings of the 2007 ACM/IEEE conference on Supercomputing, Article No. 57.
[5] M. Yoshitake, S. Yagyu and T. Chikyow, e-J. Surf. Sci. Nanotech. 13, 307 (2015).

Semiconductor memories, both volatile and non-volatile, are mostly integrated using standard processes and standard architectures. This means that the standard silicon memory devices, such as flash memories, are Rad-tolerant but not Rad-Hard. Therefore, for hard radiation applications a new approach is required to avoid such radiation-related failures.

Resistive Random Access Memories (RRAM) are intrinsically radiation tolerant, thus a proper candidate to achieve the mentioned target. Nowadays, RRAM based on HfO₂ is one of the most promising technology candidates because its full compatibility with CMOS processes. Its behavior is based on the possibility of electrically modifying the conductance of a Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) stack: the Set operation moves the cell into a Low Resistive State (LRS), whereas Reset operation brings the cell back to a High Resistive State (HRS). That switching effect of the RRAM devices is determined by the formation and modification of conductive filaments composed of oxygen vacancies, which are controlled through the motion of oxygen vacancies by an applied electric field.

Nevertheless, the 1T-1R structure of the memory array consists of NMOS access transistors, which are sensitive to radiation. In standard NMOS devices, ionizing radiation may generate holes trapped in the gate oxide, and the trapped holes could induce leakage paths from the drain to the source region. A suitable approach to eliminate the leakage path in NMOS transistors is to adopt a gate-enclosed layout. Therefore, the 1T-1R devices are based on the combination of an Enclosed Layout Transistor (ELT) and a TiN/HfO₂/Ti/TiN based resistor.

In order to show the affordability of this approach, a complete electrical characterization was performed in AC mode through the Incremental Step Pulse with Verify Algorithm (ISPVA). This technique consists of a sequence of increasing voltage pulses on the Drain terminal during Forming/Set operation, whereas this sequence of pulses is applied on the Source terminal during Reset operation. In each operation, when the Read current reaches a certain target value this operation is stopped.

Resistive RAM (ReRAM or RRAM) is a new non-volatile memory technology that holds promise as a replacement for flash memory. ReRAM operates via the generation of defects (oxygen vacancies or metal migration) within a transition metal oxide, which form a conducting filament through the dielectric under sufficient applied voltage. The active stack of a typical ReRAM device consists of a transition metal oxide (TMO) (e.g., HfO_x, TaO_x, TiO_x) layer sandwiched between conducting electrodes such as Pt or Ta. Precise control of stoichiometry, microstructure and interfaces is critical for device performance.

We have investigated the feasibility of inert ion beam etch (IBE) for the patterning of ReRAM-type structures, in conjunction with existing methodologies. IBE is the process-of-record for patterning magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) in magnetic read heads that have similar M-I-M (metal-insulator-metal) geometry as ReRAM devices. IBE has several advantages for the patterning of narrow-pitch devices of this type: an inert chemical environment for avoidance of chemical damage or residue; tight control of ion energy; independent control of the incident angle of the etching ions; and good selectivity of electrode materials to typical etch mask materials.

We report on the role of the angle-dependent ion beam etch rates in device area control and the minimization of sidewall re-deposition. The etch rates of key ReRAM materials are presented versus incidence angle and ion beam energy. As the ion beam voltage is increased, we demonstrate a significant enhancement in the relative etch rate at glancing incidence (for example, by a factor of 2 for HfO₂). Since the feature sidewall is typically exposed to glancing incidence, this energy-dependence plays a role in optimization of the feature shape and in sidewall re-deposition removal. We utilize the measured etch rates in simulating the IBE patterning of tight-pitched ReRAM features, and generate etched feature shapes and composition.

We present results of SRIM simulations to estimate depth of ion-bombardment damage to the TMO sidewall.[1] Damage is minimized by minimizing ion energy; its depth can be reduced by roughly a factor of 5 over typical IBE energy ranges. For example, ion energies of less than ~300eV are indicated to maintain damage below ~2nm. Multi-angle and multi-energy etch schemes are proposed to maximize sidewall angle and minimize damage, while eliminating re-deposition across the TMO.

[1] SRIM: The Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter, J. Ziegler, 1998, available at http://www.srim.org/

Vanadium dioxide, which shows a sharp (3-5 orders of magnitude) resistance change across its phase transition from room-temperature insulating phase to high-temperature metallic phase [1], has been proposed as an emerging material promising for non-volatile memory applications. For any kinds of vanadium dioxide applications for electronics devices including memories, it is indispensable to study and understand the metal contacts behavior on top of it. This study is generally simple for metals on most of semiconductor materials, however, it is challenging and still an open area for vanadium dioxide due to its distinct physical properties of two different phases. In this presentation, we report our recent studies of various metal contacts on vanadium dioxide thin films and nanowires. The metal contacts on the vanadium dioxide thin films show significant different contact resistances at various temperatures, especially the regime across the phase transition, shown several orders of magnitude contact resistance change. In addition to study on thin films, the contact resistance of metal electrodes deposited on vanadium dioxide nanowires were for the first time measured by transmission line method at different temperatures as well.

Typical non-volatile memory, such as Flash, is approaching its scalability limit, leading to a need for novel technologies. Intrinsic filamentary oxide based Resistive RAM (ReRAM) devices show promising characteristics thanks to scalability, CMOS compatibility, retention and low power operation. Nevertheless, low device endurance remains an issue to be solved before commercialization. We studied our TiN/SiO_x/TiN (x<2) devices, which can develop unwanted insulating surface bubbles on the anode under high-fileld/current operation. We provide positive correlation of these deformations with the release and incorporation of oxygen to and from atmosphere, leading to “breathing” devices. We detected O₂ and O₂^- emission through Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) and Residual Gas Analyzer (RGA) analyses during in situ switching in high vacuum (2x10^-6 mbar). Cycling in an isotopically labeled oxygen atmosphere with ¹⁸O allowed us to detect incorporated oxygen through SIMS and Time of Flight (ToF)-SIMS depth profiling; this sheds light on how filamentation may occur. Additionally, we report the dependence of device electrical behavior on the ambient atmosphere. These findings provide evidence useful in improving endurance of future devices through the use of oxygen sinks and sources..

Future technological developments in non-volatile resistance switching random access memory (ReRAM) applications [1] exceeding the limitations of present-day flash devices are expected to comply with the basic requirements of a small size for a high data storage density as well as fast read and write operations performed at reasonably low voltages and easily detectable current levels. Moreover, it is also a key issue that such passive circuit elements exhibit a strongly non-linear response function, so that the device is stable against low-level read-out signals and, at the same time, responds quickly to write operations carried out at higher biases. Tunable, nanometer scale junctions formed between metallic electrodes by reversible solid state electrochemical reactions represent extremely promising candidates to satisfy the above criteria [2]. The resistive state of such a memory element, called memristor [3] is altered by biasing the device above its writing threshold (V_th). Readout is performed at lower signal levels which preserve the stored information.

We studied the dynamics of the resistive switchings in Ag–Ag₂S–PtIr nanojunctions [4]. We showed that the resistance change simultaneously exhibits multiple time scales ranging from a nanosecond to seconds upon a switching voltage pulse. The resulting non-exponential transition between the OFF and ON states as well as the achievable, technologically convenient R_OFF/R_ON = 2–10 ratios are largely affected by the amplitude and frequency of the biasing signals. This fundamental, inherent property of the Ag₂S ionic conductor provides the unique opportunity for combination of GHz write/erase operations [5] performed at bias levels of a few Volts, non-volatile read-out with slower signals of a few 10 mV and robust information storage at zero bias in a two-terminal, nanometer scale analog memory device.

References
[1] J.J. Yang et al., Nature Nanotechnology, 8, (2013) 13.
[2] R. Waser et al., Adv. Mater., 21, (2009) 2632.
[3] L. Chua, IEEE Trans. Circuit Theory, 18, (1971) 507.
[4] A. Gubicza, M. Csontos, A. Halbritter, G. Mihály, Nanoscale, 7 (2015) 4394.
[5] A. Geresdi, M. Csontos, A. Gubicza, A. Halbritter, G. Mihály, Nanoscale, 6 (2014) 2613.

Metal nanostructures exhibiting resistive switching phenomena demonstrate significant promise as next generation functional memory storage devices due to simple, highly scalable structures, low power consumption, fast response times, and multi-state logic potential. In this work we report on the resistive switching character of individual nanoribbons comprising single-crystalline sub-10 nm strontium titanate nanocubes (STONCs). The single-crystalline STONCs served as the precursor component in fabricating highly ordered nanoribbons using a modified doctor-blade approach. This method, flexible blade deposition (FBD), utilizes the flow of a colloidal suspension under a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) blade at a fixed height, which significantly restricts the geometry as the STONCs assemble on a Nb doped SrTiO₃ substrate surface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the topography and the cross-sectional profile, respectively. Conductive AFM places a Ir/Pt coated conductive tip in direct contact with individual nanoribbons, thus creating a Pt/Ti/Ir(tip) /STO/NSTO/Ti test structure. The semi-log I-V characterization shows bipolar resistive switching behavior and relatively robust endurance properties. Notably, we observe “eightwise” (counterclockwise) resistive switching response, indicative of homogeneous switching, and opposite of the “counter-eightwise” response recently observed in 10-nm thick epitaxial intrinsic STO thin films,¹ which attributes switching to the presence of dislocations. Moreover, we demonstrate the transfer of the nanoribbons from the original (hard) substrate onto a second, flexible substrate while retaining the switching character, posing significant implications for tailoring the resistive response type through substrate selection.
(1) K. Szot, R. Dittmann, W. Speier, R. Waser, Phys. Status Solidi Rapid Res. Lett. 2007, 1, R86.

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials can promise both the superior carrier mobility of inorganic semiconductors and the processability of organic materials. Perovskite alkyl ammonium lead iodide has the strong potential to serve as the high efficient solar sensitizer for next-generation solar cells. Also (CH₃NH₃)PbI₃ has similar band gap of silicon, thus it is attracting huge attention for various applications.

In this study, we report that electrical (I-V) characteristics of (CH₃NH₃)PbI₃. Even though electrical properties of polycrystalline (CH₃NH₃)PbI₃ films synthesized with solution process largely vary with the grain size, we could get uniform (CH₃NH₃)PbI₃ thin films with precise thicknesses and reproducible crystallinity by spin coating. Our experimental results reveal that I-V characteristics of (CH₃NH₃)PbI₃ films show bipolar memristive behavior. In positive bias voltage, current increases rapidly, but the films are like insulator in negative bias voltage. From these bipolar memristive behavior, it is possible to analyze switching and conduction mechanism in (CH₃NH₃)PbI₃ films. We reveal that the resistive switching and conduction mechanism from the change of metal for active electrodes and counter electrodes with conductive atomic force microscopy. Also, It is suggested that interplay between Schottky emission and Ohmic conduction are a key for unveiling switching mechanism for high performance transistors based on perovskite alkyl ammonium lead halides.

A considerable amount of research has been carried out on Ni-Zn ferrites because of their innumerable applications in non-resonant devices due to their high magnetization .Similarly, Al doped SrFe_12-XAl_XO₁₉ has their distinct magnetic properties such as their high T_c, high coercive force, have made them popular for industrial application such as microwave device in recording media.
Energy product as a combination of magnetization and coercivity essentially determines the quality of the permanent magnets. But unfortunately, magnetic materials tend naturally to have one rather both; soft magnetic materials usually have relatively high magnetization, while most of hard magnets have high coercivity, but quite low magnetization. Exchange spring principle can identify a route to provide the possibility for improving remanence and energy product of the permanent magnets by making the composite of suitable material. The present study is to obtain Pure phase exchange-coupled nanocomposites of hard-soft magnetic oxides, (hard) SrFe_12-XAl_xO₁₉ - (soft) Y Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ with X=0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 and Y=wt.10%, wt.20%, wt.30%, wt.40% and wt.50% were prepared via autocombustion method. The X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns of as prepared nanocomposite peaks are in good agreement with the hexagonal and cubic phases and their peaks are broadened due to their nanometer sizes. VSM measurement report that a _~19% increase in Ms value for nanocomposite with x=0 (69.5 emu/g) for hard and 50 Wt. % of the soft phase. A linear increase in Mr /Ms with soft-phase content indicates the presence of enhanced exchange-coupling between hard and soft phases of the nanocomposite. The highest Mr /Ms ratio of 0.60 was obtained for nanocomposite containing wt. 10.% of the soft-phase with X=1.5 Al doped sample which is significantly larger than the value of 0.5 predicted for non-interacting permanent magnet. This indicates the existence of intergrain exchange coupling between hard and soft phases. The observed reduction in coercieve field values of the nanocomposite with increase in soft-phase content is explained on the basis of competition between exchange and dipolar interaction between hard-soft and soft–soft phases of the nanocomposite.

Floating gate single Poly non-volatile memory arrays featuring single cells with enhanced sensitivity to ionizing radiation were developed and investigated. Radiation sensors based on CMOS technology and integrated monolithically on a single chip with the readout circuitry allow fabrication of low power consuming dosimeters for various emerging applications, like Internet of Things and environmental monitoring (background radiation and pollution). They are also promising for personnel wearable dosimeters and absorbed dose control in medicine and security systems. We report on ultra-low power consuming radiation sensors implemented in a standard CMOS technology without using additional masks. The investigated array-type devices allow registration of absorbed radiation with record spatial resolution and pronounced spectral response, making them suitable for X-ray and Gamma imaging and spectroscopy. The sensors were exposed to ionizing radiation from various types of sources (Co-60, Cs-137, X-ray tubes, medical accelerators, ion beams) . Physical mechanisms responsible for sensitivity and devices reliability performance were studied in detail. The practical value of the obtained results is confirmed by the developed demonstrators for the in-vivo dosimetry in radiotherapy and safety applications.

The unique properties of spin-polarized surface or edge states in topological insulators (TIs) make these quantum coherent systems interesting from the point of view of both fundamental physics and their implementation in low power spintronic devices. Here we present such a study in TIs, through tunneling and noise spectroscopy utilizing TI/Al2O3/Co tunnel junctions with bottom TI electrodes of either Bi2Te3 or Bi2Se3. We demonstrate that features related to the band structure of the TI materials show up in the tunneling conductance and even more clearly through low frequency noise measurements. The bias dependence of 1/f noise reveals peaks at specific energies corresponding to band structure features of the TI. TI tunnel junctions could thus simplify the study of the properties of such quantum coherent systems, that can further lead to the manipulation of their spin-polarized properties for technological purposes.

Superconductors permit the flow of Charge in the absence of Ohmic dissipation, but since the Cooper pairs of electrons have antiparallel spins, charge currents cannot carry a net spin. Furthermore, since such singlet pairs are easily disrupted by magnetism, the coupling of superconductivity and ferromagnetism might appear useless for applications in spintronics. However, during the past few years a series of discoveries have shown that, not only can magnetism and superconductivity be made to cooperate, but in carefully engineered superconductor/magnet systems new functionality can be created in which spin, charge and superconducting phase coherence can work together (1). By combining these different degrees of freedom a whole new spectrum of exciting predictions is waiting to be explored, and the field of superconducting spintronics has emerged.
In the first part of this talk I will review the state-of-the-art in superconducting spintronics (superspin) with an emphasis on the generation of spin-polarized (spin triplet) Cooper pairs. In the second part, I will discuss my group’s recent results including manipulation of superconductivity in superconducting spin-valves (2), superconductor / magnet bilayers (3,4), triplet proximity effects in half-metallic ferromagnets, and the triggering of exotic superconductivity in single layer graphene.

1. J. Linder and J.W.A. Robinson. Nature Physics 11, 307 (2015)
2. N Banerjee, C Smiet, R Smits, A Ozaeta, S Bergeret, M Blamire, JWA Robinson. Nature Com. 5, 3048 (2014)
3. Y Gu, GB Halász, JWA Robinson, MG Blamire, Physical Review Letters 115, 067201 (2015)
4. A Di Bernardo, S Diesch, Y Gu, J Linder, M Blamire, E Scheer, JWA Robinson. Nature Com 6, 8053 (2015)
5. A Di Bernardo, Z Salman, X Wang, M Amado, M Egilmez, M Flokstra, A Suter, S Lee, J Zhao, T Prokscha, E Morenzoni, MG Blamire, J Linder, JWA Robinson, Phys. Rev. X 5, 041021 (2015)
6. Y Kalcheim, O Millo*, A Di Bernardo, A Pal, JWA Robinson, Physical Review B 92, 060501(R) (2015)

The interplay of spin, charge, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom in complex oxides has exhibited a vast variety of phases and physical phenomena. Recently, a long-range ordered ferroelectric vortex phase, in which electrical polarization continuously rotates about its core and forms an ordered vortex-antivortex arrays, was reported by engineering PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ superlattice under optimal strain. [ref. 1] However, the dynamic response of this exotic phase under electrical and thermal excitation is unexplored. By employing a pump-probe method, with optical Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) as probe [ref. 2] and controlling the arrival of the 400 nm optical pulse, we achieved a capability of understanding polarization states with ~200 fs time resolution.

SHG pump-probe study was performed on three vortex system with (PbTiO₃)_n/(SrTiO₃)_n superlattice periodicity of n=6,12,16. An unusual enhancement (reaching 30%) of SHG signal was observed at time zero, when the sample was probed right after pumping by 400 nm. Detailed polarimetry measurement showed no change of polarization configuration under such a fast time scale, indicating a pure electronic effect which enhances SHG activity. However, at longer time scale, a suppression of SHG was observed, with minimum at t=14 ps, 29 ps, 39 ps and scaling linearly with superlattice periodicity of n=6,12 and 16. Considering 400 nm optical pulse is above band gap of PbTiO₃ and below band gap of SrTiO₃, a thermal dissipation from PbTiO₃ layer to SrTiO₃ layer is expected along with the suppression process. Under a pumping fluence of 50 mJ/cm², a permanent polarimetry change was observed, indicating a new phase with different polarization configuration was written in the vortex area. This has potential application in optical nonvolatile memory materials.


1. A.K.Yadav, et al., Nature 530, 198-201 (2016)
2. Sava A. Denev, et al., J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 94 [9] 2699–2727 (2011)

Phase change memory has recently been the focus of next-generation memories because of their advantages such as low fabrication cost, non-volatility, and commercial scalability for sub 20 nm cell designs. Previous studies have shown that the currently used Ge2Sb2Te5 has shown several disadvantages, including low crystallization temperature, long crystallization time, and high power consumption. As an alternative, Ge_xSb_1-x is suggested for phase change memory applications owing to its very short crystallization times, which, however, still shows low crystallization temperatures at the low Ge concentrations.
In this study, we investigated the effect of selenium (Se) doping on electrical properties, thermal stability, and data retention to enhance the reliability of Ge_xSb_1-x. When selenium was incorporated into the Ge_xSb_1-x films, both the crystalline and amorphous sheet resistance increased, translating to a higher R_set/R_reset ratio. Simultaneous Thermal Analyzer analysis showed that the crystallization temperature and activation energy of Se-doped Ge_xSb_1-x films are higher than pure- Ge_xSb_1-x films. According to isothermal temperature-resistance measurements, the failure time and data retention increased when more Se was incorporated. As the Se concentration increased, the threshold current of the amorphous state decreased and the threshold voltage increased. A Se-doped Ge_xSb_1-x cell, which is operated by voltage pulse, exhibited a lower Set/Reset operation voltage than pure Ge_xSb_1-x films. In addition, as the Se concentration increased, the programing window likewise increased. On the basis of our results, we conclude that Se-doped Ge_xSb_1-x films have the potentials to be used as phase change materials for next-generation PRAM applications due to their high thermal stability and large window for reliability as well as possibility of operation power reduction.

Silicon Nitride based charge trap devices have been studied for more than four decades for applications in non-volatile memories. Although the initial studies were reported on devices with metal gate, the Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (SONOS) stack as the non-volatile memory gate stack has been the focus since the 1990s. Several enhancements in SONOS layer materials have been invented to reduce the programming voltage and improve the reliability of the SONOS memory cell. Some of the key enhancements include band gap engineered SONOS (BE-SONOS) stack and scaling down of layer thicknesses without sacrificing uniformity. With these enhancements, SONOS memories which can be programmed at voltages as low as 7.5V and can meet the 10 year retention at 100°C ambient temperature are now commercially available. With the advent of high K – metal gate technology for CMOS transistors, it was logical that high K dielectrics would be evaluated for the charge trap layer or blocking layer of the SONOS stack. The same is true for FinFETs which has led to research on SONOS based FinFETs. Furthermore, with the advent of 3D non-volatile memories, SONOS devices have been invented for 3D memory cells and these are now in manufacturing. SONOS has also been very successful in embedded memories where the cost of integration into an existing CMOS baseline process is most critical. Here the embedded SONOS has proven to be much more economical than the traditional Floating Gate technology for many applications.
This talk will review the early years of SONOS and then highlight the various innovations that have enhanced SONOS memory performance, reliability and low cost of manufacture. Topics that will be covered include various improvements in the ONO stack such as Band gap engineering, High K – Metal Gate for SONOS, 3D SONOS, SONOS FinFETs and embedded SONOS.

Due to their ability to threshold switch within nanoseconds, amorphous chalcogenides show great promise as selector devices for RRAM crossbar arrays. The mechanism that drives initiation, holding and decay of the current filament in these materials has long been asserted to be primarily electronic in nature. However, there is little work that has explored the extent to which Joule heating of the material can affect the switching dynamics, despite the fact that these materials exhibit a strong dependence of conductivity on temperature. We investigate this question by fabricating identical 3x3µm TiN/GeTe₆/TiN crossbar devices on silicon substrates that have been coated to produce two different thermal environments. The coatings are 100nm of AlN and 1µm of SiO₂, which have thermal conductivities that differ by approximately two orders of magnitude and produce different switching characteristics. At room temperature, the DC threshold voltage for devices fabricated on AlN/Si was 0.4V higher than for devices on SiO₂/Si (3.2V versus 2.8V) while the threshold currents remain roughly the same (around 12 µA). Since more power dissipation is required to switch devices that have better heat sinking, this suggests that a minimum temperature rise must occur before the threshold event. At several volts above the DC threshold value, devices on both substrates can switch in less than 10ns; however, at lower voltages approaching the DC threshold voltage, the incubation time required to switch devices on AlN/Si is almost an order of magnitude greater than for devices on SiO₂/Si. Finite element thermoelectrical simulations of devices prior to switching show that the temperature rise vs. time within both devices is similar up until 10ns. At that point the temperature rises diverge, with devices on SiO₂ heating to higher temperatures at a faster rate than on AlN. The temperature rise could explain the observed behavior of both the DC and transient device characteristics, and indicates that device self-heating prior to switching may play a critical role in the switching initiation process.

Phase change memory (PCM) is one of the most promising candidates for high performance Storage Class Memory (SCM). Endurance of PCM, which is likely to exhibit greater than flash memory by several orders of magnitude (for example 10⁷ to 10⁸), is one of the key aspects that would enable dynamic random access memory (DRAM)-like applications for PCM. To achieve high endurance, understanding failure mechanisms of PCM is critical. One of the main failure mechanisms of PCM devices is void formation which leads to inability to switch between the two resistance states of the PCM cell. Void formation is also related to the change in mass density of the active component accompanied with phase transformation, induced during continued switching cycles [1].
A novel confined PCM cell with a metallic liner can improve write-endurance and optimize multi-level cell (MLC) performance [2]. In this work, in-situ transmission electron microscopic (TEM) procedure was developed to track phase changes and possible void formation of the new PCM cell during the operation in order to study failure mechanisms in detail. We observed void formation as well as void movement, which are correlated to resistance states of the cell.
We show that cells that have been cycled up to 10⁹ times can have large voids within the confined phase change material volume, leading to electrical fail stuck in the RESET mode. Further investigation by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis has confirmed composition segregation. In-situ TEM also reveals void accumulation in which voids move in a hopping fashion. Finally, we show that these voids can self-heal during a set-reset pulse operation of the cell which might provide an insight for improving PCM endurance.

[1] B. Rajendran et al., VLSI Tech. Dig., p. 96, (2008)
[2] S. Kim et al., IEDM Tech. Dig., p. 762, (2013)

Phase-change memory utilizes a chalcogenide material, for example, Ge₂Sb₂Te₅, that reversibly transforms between amorphous and crystalline states. Amorphization (melt and quench) by a short high power electrical pulse, ~ 20 ns, is much faster than crystallization (annealing) by a long moderate power pulse, ~ 100 ns. In this reason, the crystallization kinetics, represented by nucleation rate [cm^-3 s^-1] and growth velocity [cm s^-1], determines the operational speed of the device. In addition, the amorphous phase spontaneously becomes the stable crystalline phase, which is the root cause of the data retention failure. Furthermore some statistical variation is induced due to the stochastic nature of the nucleation. In this work, our crystallization model that calculates nucleation and growth in mesoscale phase-field method is presented. Then, the scaling trends of the set speed and its statistical variation in terms of nucleation rate, growth velocity and memory cell dimensions are extracted at different temperatures using the model. Finally, the cell design for achieving the gradual decrease of the resistance by repetitive pulses that is crucial for synaptic devices in a neuromorphic computing system is discussed.

The storage elements of STT-MRAM are magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) in which the magnetization of the magnetic electrodes are lying out-of-plane thanks to a strong interfacial anisotropy arising at the CoFeB/MgO interface. This anisotropy is often assumed to be uniaxial i.e. of the form E=–K₁cos²θ where θ is the angle between magnetization and normal to the plane of the layers. By performing detailed hard-axis magnetoresistance measurements between 5K and 300K on such MTJs of diameter ranging between 50nm and 150nm, it was observed that the anisotropy can also contain higher order terms of the form -K₂cos⁴θ. This higher order contribution can exist both in the free and reference layers. When the -K₂/K₁ ratio exceeds 0.5, the magnetic anisotropy changes from “easy-axis” to “easy-cone”. This means that in its ground state, the magnetization of the corresponding layer lies along a cone and can rotate in a very small field around the cone axis. The cone angle is directly related to the -K₂/K₁ ratio. The easy-cone regime has clear signatures in the shape of the hard-axis magnetoresistance loops. The existence of this higher order anisotropy was also confirmed by ferromagnetic resonance experiments on FeCoB/MgO sheet films. It is of interfacial nature and is believed to be due to spatial fluctuations at the nanoscale of the first order anisotropy parameter at the FeCoB/MgO interface. Such second order anisotropy of the storage layer can have several beneficial influences in STT-MRAM working principle. To trigger the magnetization reversal due to spin transfer torque, a more reproducible initial tilt angle is given to the storage layer magnetization by this easy-cone anisotropy than the one provided by random thermal fluctuations as in conventional STT-MRAM. This reduces the stochasticity of the switching and therefore the width of the distribution of switching voltage. It also allows much faster switching rate (to ns range). It also allows increasing the Figure of merit D/Ic where D is the thermal stability factor and Ic the switching current. It has however a drawback: it reduces the thermal stability factor by more than a factor 2. For applications requiring short retention (a few hours), the easy-cone anisotropy can be usable with existing materials. For applications requiring longer retention (e.g. 10 years), higher anisotropy materials would be needed to benefit from this easy cone anisotropy.

CoFeB/MgO based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy are promising candidates for high density spin-transfer torque (STT) MRAM owing to their high tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) and large interfacial magnetic anisotropy. As the MTJ shrinks in size, the MgO barrier must be thin enough to keep the junction resistance reasonably small. This may cause reliability problems such as electric shorts and barrier breakdowns.
Typically, the MgO film is deposited by rf-sputtering, but the sputtered MgO film contains a large amount of oxygen vacancy defects, which attributed to the leakage current of MTJs [1]. In this work, we have examined the effect of in-situ post oxidation (PO) of the MgO barrier with the intent to reduce the density of oxygen defects and improve the reliability of the MgO barrier.
On a 300-mm wafer, we fabricated a top-pinned MTJ characterized by the following stacked structure: bottom electrode/CoPt (6)/Ru (3)/Ta (1)/CoFeB (0.8)/ MgO barrier/CoFeB (1.7)/Ta (0.4)/ CoPt (6)/Ru (1)/CoPt (10)/top electrode (in nm). Two types of MgO barriers with resistance area product (RA) of 7 Ωμm² were compared; one is MgO with PO, prepared by sputtering a 0.86-nm-thick MgO layer followed by an in-situ 5s natural oxidation, and the other is MgO without PO, which consists of a 0.93-nm-thick sputtered MgO film. The MTJ size is about 50 nm in diameter.
MR loops of more than 700 devices were measured for both MTJs, with and without PO, and the MR ratio and resistance in the parallel state were extracted. It was found that the electrical shorting of the MTJs drastically reduced from 11.6% to 0.3% after PO process. Perhaps because of this, the average MR ratio of the MTJ with PO exhibits about 20% higher value than that of the MTJ without PO.
Furthermore, we conducted write endurance tests under bipolar pulse voltages of +1.05/-1.15 V using a time-dependent dielectric breakdown method [2]. The pulses had a constant width of 50 ns. This test was repeated until barrier breakdown occurred and the number of cycles at breakdown (N_BD) was determined. The N_BDs of both MTJs, with and without PO, were fitted by a Weibull distribution. The value at 63.2% of N_BD distribution (representing the number of cycles that causes 63.2% of devices to fail) was estimated to be 3.1×10⁹ cycles for the MTJs with PO: this number is two orders of magnitude bigger than that determined for the MTJs without PO.
To understand the improved reliability of the MTJs with PO, atom diffusion in CoFeB/MgO MTJ was investigated using electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). The study revealed a clear suppression of Fe diffusion into the MgO layer, which might be of key importance for the high-reliable MgO barrier.
This work was partly funded by ImPACT Program of Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan).
[1] D. J. Kim et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 97 (2010) 263502.
[2] A. Amara-Dababi et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 99 (2011) 083501.

Spin-transfer torque magnetic tunnel junctions (STT-MTJs) have intensively been developed as a nonvolatile memory element for magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) and nonvolatile logic systems. However, the threshold current density J_c for current-induced magnetization switching (CIMS) is still high to adopt low-power CMOS applications. Although various efforts including applications of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and low-damping constant material technologies have been examined, it is difficult to reduce J_c to ~1×10⁵ A/cm².
Reduction of the energy barrier only during CIMS is attractive to reduce J_c. Saito et al. [1] proposed a switching field reduction technique employing the inverse magnetostriction (IMS) effect. This technique is based on the pressure-induced energy barrier reduction and would also be applicable to STT-MTJs. Namely, STT-MTJs with the free layer of an IMS material are promising for J_c reduction. Pressures (a few hundred of MPa) required inducing the IMS effect can be applied to the device by using piezoelectric materials.
In this work, we propose the STT-MTJ using an IMS material for the free layer (hereafter, referred to as IMS-MTJ) and computationally investigate the IMS-induced switching current reduction of the IMS-MTJ and its MRAM applications.
The IMS-induced STT magnetization switching was analyzed based on the LLG equation with Slonczewski’s STT term. The IMS effect was included in the magnetic internal energy as a magnetoelastic energy. The resulting effective energy barrier for magnetization switching due to the STT and IMS effects depends on a current passing through the device and a pressure P applied to the IMS free layer. The switching behavior at a finite temperature was also analyzed using the Koch model [2,3]. J_c can be determined so that the error rate of CIMS satisfies a given value. In this study, SmFe₂ [4] is selected for a free layer material of a CoFeB/MgO-based IMS-MTJ that is surrounded by a PMN-PT [5] piezoelectric stressor gate (i.e., the IMS-MTJ is a three-terminal device). The MRAM cell using a IMS-MTJ were also analyzed by HSPICE [6] with a STT-MTJ macromodel [7]
The effective energy barrier for the magnetization switching decreases with increasing J and P. This means that J_c can be reduced by P, i.e., the STT-induced CIMS is enhanced by P. This P-induced IMS effect is highly effective at reducing J_c. For instance, J_c is successfully reduced to ~1×10⁵ A/cm² at P = 180 MPa for a current pulse width of 30 ns. A MRAM cell configured with an IMS-MTJ enables low-voltage (<0.2V) write operations without degradation of the thermal stability during the retention mode, and the write energy can be dramatically reduced to ~1/400 in comparison with conventional MRAM cells.

[1] N. Saito, et al., JAP 2008.
[2] R. H. Koch, et al. PRL 2004.
[3] J. Z. Sun, PRB 2000.
[4] H. Samata, et al., JJAP 1998.
[5] D. Newns et al. JAP 2012.
[6] http://ptm.asu.edu/
[7] S. Yamamoto, and S. Sugahara, JJAP 2009.

Ferromagnetic/ferroelectric heterostructures are currently being researched extensively for electric control of magnetization. Clearly, controlling strain transfer across the interface, which is driven by ferroelectric polarization switching from in-plane to out-of-plane, is a promising way to achieve electric switching of the magnetization. Although our previous experiments have demonstrated pure electric field induced switching of perpendicular magnetization in [Cu/Ni] multilayer/BaTiO₃ (BTO) substrates [1], a large voltage over 100 V was required to induce the magnetization switching. In order to reduce the voltage required, the use of a thin ferroelectric underlayer is an appropriate choice. Thin film ferroelectrics, however, are widely recognized to possess out-of-plane polarization due to interface effects, making it difficult to control the magnetization orientation by switching the polarization from in-plane to out-of-plane. In this work, we demonstrate a well-defined in-plane ferroelectric polarization in BTO thin films on MgAl₂O₄(001) (MAO) to achieve electric field induced magnetization switching in ferromagnetic/ferroelectric thin film heterostructures. BTO thin films were grown on MAO substrates which have positive misfit strain ~0.5% using pulsed laser deposition. The substrate temperature was kept at 650 °C during deposition under oxygen pressure ~20 mTorr. The in-plane and out-of-plane lattice spacings of the thin films of 4.024 Å and 3.989 Å, respectively, were determined by X-ray diffraction measurements. Reciprocal lattice mapping shows clear epitaxial growth of BTO film and no splitting into a1 and a2 in-plane domains indicating almost equally elongated in-plane lattices in [100] and [010] directions. This in-plane elongated lattice due to the misfit strain with substrates indicates in-plane oriented ferroelectric polarization in BTO. In order to check the polarization orientation, we measured the in-plane polarization-electric field (P-E) curves of the epitaxial BTO films using a pair of capacitor type top electrodes defined by electron beam lithography. The P-E curves clearly show hysteretic behavior with a saturation polarization of 40 µC/cm² , a remanent polarization of 10 µC/cm² , and a coercive field of 20 kV/cm. Electric field dependence of the remanent polarization also exhibits its saturation with increasing electric field, ensuring a genuine ferroelectric polarization that lies in-plane. These combined results clearly demonstrate that the in-plane ferroelectric polarization can be realized in BTO thin films on MAO, allowing for fabricating multiferroic thin film heterostructures with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy that can be switched to in-plane anisotropy by a rather low electric voltage.
[1] Y. Shirahata, et al., NPG Asia Mater. 7, e198 (2015)

BiFeO₃ is the most widely studied multiferroic material that has attracted much attention due to its giant electric polarization and room temperature multiferroic properties. It has a cycloidal space-modulated spin structure with a periodicity of 62 nm which generates a parasitic electric polarization superimposed on the G-type antiferromagnetic structure. The presence of cycloidal ordering prohibits the appearance of net ferromagnetic magnetization due to spin canting and a linear magnetoelectric effect. Modifying the spin structure is the key for realizing BiFeO₃-based ferromagnetic ferroelectrics.
We have recently observed a spin structure transition from low-temperature cycloidal one to high-temperature collinear one at ~120 K in rhombohedral BiFe_0.8Co_0.2O₃ using neutron powder diffraction. Interestingly, magnetization measurements revealed that the collinear phase showed a weakly ferromagnetic behavior with the saturation moments of 0.03 μ_B/f.u. at 300 K, indicating that the spins were canted. In this study, we have fabricated epitaxial BiFe_1-xCo_xO₃ (BFCO) thin films on SrTiO₃ (STO) (111) and GdScO₃ (GSO) (110) substrates using pulsed laser deposition and their electric/magnetic properties were examined.
The same magnetic transitions were clearly observed in in-plane remanent magnetization (M_r) versus temperature curves for x = 0.10 and 0.15 BFCO thin films on STO substrate at around 220 K and 130 K, respectively, as was observed for bulk samples. These films showed ferromagnetic behavior at 300 K. The value of M_r, 0.038 m_B/f.u. is comparable to that reported for bulk BFCO. From these results, it can be safely concluded that x = 0.10 and 0.15 BFCO films are weakly ferromagnetic at room temperature due to spin canting. Ferroelectric and ferromagnetic domain structures of the BFCO films on GSO substrate studied by magnetic force microscopy and piezoresponse force microscopy and the correlation between them will be reported in the presentation.

The emerging Big Data era demands the ever increasing need for the speed and capacity of storing and processing information. Recent research has shown that it is possible to use femtosecond (10^-15s) circularly polarized laser to switch the magnetic order in certain magnetic materials. This helicity-dependent all-optical switching (HD-AOS) was initially found in ferrimagnetic systems involving rare-earth elements, and very recently extended to ferromagnetic materials such as CoPt multilayers. Most remarkably, such an extremely fast and novel reversal mechanism does not require an external magnetic field existing in conventional magnetic storage devices (primarily hard disks), and potentially could increase the data storage speed by three orders of magnitude.
Plasmonic nanostructures made of noble metals, such as gold and silver, enable to confine light into deep subwavelength scales and meanwhile significantly increase the local field intensity. In order to realize all-optical magnetic switching with lower power and higher density for future memory and storage devices, it has been proposed to combine plasmonic structures with advanced magnetic materials. Towards this goal, in this talk we will present the HD-AOS effect of CoPt multilayers coated with an additional gold thin film. We find that this hybrid magneto-plasmonic system exhibits pronounced HD-AOS. We have conducted systematic optical characterizations to explore the dependence of HD-AOS on different repetition rates and peak powers. It is found that better HD-AOS results can be observed for higher repetition rates. By varying the laser power, we have observed the CoPtAu thin films exhibit HD-AOS with a very large range of the threshold fluence (estimated to be larger than 360.5%). This is a significant increase compared with the previous reported results in GdFeCo alloy films, which shows HD-AOS only for a narrow window of threshold fluence (estimated to be 1.5%). To reveal the underlying mechanism, we have measured and compared the hysteresis curves of different samples. The hybrid magneto-plasmonic structures show smaller coercivity and smaller remanent magnetization compared with CoPt multilayers, which is believed to facilitate the HD-AOS feature. Moreover, we find that thicker gold coating results in larger magnetic multi-domain sizes and better HD-AOS results. Based on these observations, we integrate plasmonic nanostructures, such as randomly distributed islands and nanorods, with the CoPt multilayers. Primary results of the localized surface plasmon effects on HD-AOS are explored.
In summary, we have demonstrated HD-AOS in a hybrid structure by combining plasmonic materials with ferromagnets. This work is a critical step towards future high-speed, low-power and high-density memory and storage technologies.

Generation of spin currents in magnetic insulators YIG by spin pumping and spin Seebeck effect has led to dramatic advances in spin currents research and its application for insulator based spintronic devices. Here we report the magnetic and dynamic properties of high quality nm-thick yittrium iron garnet (YIG) film on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. The surface and magnetic properties of the films were studied by using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and SQUID VSM respectively. 5-60 nm thick films have surface roughness of 1-3Å, and (111) orientation. Our results shows that magnetic properties of YIG depend strongly on thickness: magnetic moment has linear dependence with thickness at room temperature. The saturation magnetization, coercive field and the Curie temperature in thick films are 136 emu/cc, 0.50 Oe and 560 K respectively. FMR results showed very narrow FMR linewidth and small damping factor (2.0 ± 0.6) x 10^-4 in 40 nm YIG film and for YIG (40nm)/Pt (10nm) is (12.0 ± 2.0) x10^-4 .Temperature dependence of magnetization of nm-thick YIG films has revealed an interesting result, showing downturn of magnetization at low temperature according to which an additional magnetic phase is forming at the YIG/GGG interface due to the diffusion of Gadolinium (Gd). The downturn of magnetization in YIG at low temperatures has not been reported so far, but has significant relevance to the spin hall magnetoresistance (SMR) at low temperature. We will report the thickness dependence of Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) properties in nm thick sputtered YIG films. Our results on the temperature dependence of Gilbert damping factor of YIG films will lead to new physics, to understand its effect on spin pumping and spin transfer torque in YIG/Pt bilayer structure. We are investigating the magnetization dynamics and the effect of C60¹ on the damping in YIG/C60 hybrid strcutures which looks promising and will open a new field of research in spintronics community.

1. Beating the Stoner criterion using molecular interfaces. Nature 524, 69–73, (06 August 2015)

Modulation of oxygen vacancy concentration over a nanoscale volume offers a unique opportunity to explore, on a local scale, emergent properties in dielectrics and ferroelectrics. While such control has mostly been achieved through electric bias via a scanning probe, it can be alternatively realized by an electromechanical approach of using a contact pressure induced by a scanning probe to generate a local field through flexoelectricity. Nevertheless this voltage-free and non-destructive method is still elusive. Here we employed self-consistent phase-field modeling in combination with transport theories to investigate the oxygen vacancy distribution and evolution under pure mechanical tip pressure. We demonstrated that the contact pressure generated both flexoelectric field and Vegard’s strain and facilitated vertical and lateral motion of oxygen vacancies, resulting in vacancy depletion under the tip and lateral accumulation at the probe edges. The simulation results well supported experimental measurement of surface potential distribution and oxygen vacancy delocalization in Kelvin probe imaging, which was attributed to the flexoelectric effect. Our work thus enables further understanding and study of the oxygen vacancy mediated emergent properties in dielectric/ferroelectric oxides.

This study was supported by the U.S. DOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Materials Sciences and Engineering Division (MSED) through FWP Grant No. ERKCZ07 (Y.C., S.V.K.). The phase-field simulation was performed in collaboration with Prof. Long-Qing Chen at Penn State, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Award No. DE-FG02-07ER46417(Chen).

The recent work has shown that analog neuromorphic circuits based on nanoscale devices may increase the neuromorphic network performance dramatically, leaving far behind both their digital counterparts and biological prototypes, while approaching the energy efficiency of the brain. The background of these advantages is the fact that in these circuits, the key operation performed by any neuromorphic network, the vector-by-matrix multiplication, is implemented on the physical level by utilization of the fundamental Ohm and Kirchhoff laws. The key component of this circuit is a nanodevice with adjustable conductance - essentially an analog nonvolatile memory cell - used at each crosspoint of a crossbar array, and mimicking the biological synapse. While the potential advantages of specialized hardware for neuromorphic computing had been recognized several decades ago, the main obstacle was efficient implementation of adjustable conductance devices. Up until recently, such devices were implemented mostly with low-grade floating gate transistors, which have relatively large areas leading to inferior performance.
Fortunately, during the last decade there was dramatic progress in the field of nanoelectronic memory devices, in particular, the development of reasonably reproducible technology of fabrication of adjustable, nonvolatile two-terminal devices - “memristors”. The low-voltage conductance of these devices may be continuously adjusted by the application of short voltage pulses of higher amplitude – the fact that was used by my group to demonstrate first simple neuromorphic network providing pattern classification. The utilized memristors had a very low chip footprint, which is determined only by the overlap area of the metallic electrodes, and may be scaled down below 10 nm without sacrificing their endurance and retention.
In my talk, I will discuss my group’s recent efforts on the development of memristor-based neuromorphic circuits and specifically discuss the most pressing material and device engineering challenges for such applications.

The resistive switching phenomenon is at the core of the development of new memristor devices for non volatile memories. The switching process and memristor device operation rely on the same mechanisms involved in oxide dielectric breakdown, that are, charge carrier transport including conduction and tunneling, and point defect generation and migration. In resistive switching the diffusion of defects, e.g. oxygen vacancies or metal atoms, is desired and is usually controlled by the application of an electric field. However, the distribution of charge carrier and defects both affects the potential profile and the electric field. Hence, in this contribution we report a new multiscale model that accounts for charge carrier and point defect transport, providing a unified transport framework. This framework allows for the concurrent monitoring of field driven and current driven mechanisms, such as metal atom migration and point defect generation respectively. Both types of processes are known to affect the efficiency and lifetime of electronic devices.

Resorting to natural materials has been identified as a suitable route towards the achievement of green electronics, whose development would reduce concerns related to conventional electronics, such as the increase of waste electrical and electronic equipment [1]. Eumelanins, a dark-brown subclass of the melanin pigments, are biopolymers present in flora and fauna, whose building blocks are 5,6-dihydroxyindole
(DHI) and to 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA) [2].
Important properties are metal ion chelation [3], biocompatibility, biodegradability [4], photoprotection and mixed ionic-electronic conduction [5]. We reported on the formation of conductive bridges
(dendrites) in hydrated eumelanin thin films under bias (1 V) included between Au electrodes [3]. When a dendrite bridges the 2 electrodes, a change in resistivity occurs, similar to the resistive switch that takes place in Electrochemical Metallization Memory Cells, ECM. In ECMs, the dissolution of the Active Electrode, AE, provides cations that migrate through an Ion Conductive layer and are reduced at the Counter electrode, CE, forming a conductive filament. At different hydration levels, two types of switching, differing for ON/OFF ratios and dendrite chemical composition, were observed [6]. Herein, we present an investigation on the dendrite formation in different configurations (planar and vertical). We used different electrode
metals: inert CE of Pt and AEs of Ag and Pd (relevant in electronics) and Fe, Cu and Mg (that interact with melanin in biological systems) as well as different melanins: synthetic (commercial, DHI-melanin,
DHICA-melanin) or natural (extracted from the ink of a cuttlefish), as received or previously enriched with the cation of the metal of interest. The possibility of having different ON/OFF ratios controlling the hydration level of the thin films was assessed, too.
In planar configuration, Atomic Force Microscopy, NanoIR™ (combination of nanoscale IR spectroscopy and AFM), Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, as well as Scanning Electron Microscopy allowed us to gain insights on the composition, morphology and location of the dendrites (i.e. whether the dendrites are buried in the pigment film or they stem out of it). In the vertical configuration, the switching speed and the switching voltage were investigated with electrical measurements based on a sweeping bias. Our results constitute a further step towards the intriguing scenario of an ECM having the biopigment melanin as the Ion Conductive Layer, and shed further light on the role of eumelanin as a metal ion chelator. [1] M.Irimia-Vladu, Chem. Soc. Rev., 43,2, 588–610,2014;[2] M.d’Ischia et al., Pigm Cell Melanoma R, 28, 5, 520-544, 2015;[3] J. Wunsche et al., Adv. Funct.
Mater., 23,45, 5591–5598,2013.[4] C. J. Bettinger et al., Biomaterials, 30, 17, 3050–3057, 2009 [5] B. Mostert et al., Proc.
Natl. Acad. Sci., 109, 23, 8943–8947,2012;[6] E. Di Mauro et al, J.
Mater. Chem. C, 2016

Intrinsic electron and hole localization in non-crystalline materials is usually associated with states near the bottom of conduction band (CB). Recent evidence suggests that in some amorphous oxides intrinsic electron and hole localisation is possible also in deep states, where the effect of local disorder is amplified by polaronic relaxation of amorphous network [1-3]. The experimental results using the exhaustive photo-depopulation spectroscopy suggest the existence of deep electron and hole trapping states in amorphous hafnium oxide (a-HfO₂) structures [4].
To investigate whether these states can be caused by intrinsic electron and hole trapping, we modelled the behaviour of extra electron/holes in stoichiometric a-HfO₂ structures. Forty models of a-HfO₂ were produced by using classical force fields [5] and ab-initio calculations with densities in the range of 9.2-9.9 g cm^-3, averaging at 9.6 g cm^-3. The electronic structures of these models with one extra electron/hole were then calculated using density functional theory (DFT). Calculations of the geometrical and electronic structures of excess electrons and holes demonstrate that they localize spontaneously at precursor sites, such as longer Hf–O bonds or under-coordinated Hf and O atoms. The polaronic relaxation is amplified by the local disorder of amorphous network. Single electron traps produce deep states in the gap at ∼2.07 eV below the bottom of the CB ranging from 1.3 to 2.75 eV. This is in good agreement with the experimental data [4]. The energy of these states depends on the density and the local environment of each sample. We show that the same trap can accommodate two electrons creating a deeper state up to ∼3 eV below the bottom of the CB. Holes are typically localized on under-coordinated O ions or alternatively can trap on a 3-coordinated oxygen which has longer O-Hf bonds. The trapping energies ranging from 0.72 to 1.68 eV and with an average of 1.37 eV.
These results advance our general understanding of charge trapping in amorphous oxides by demonstrating that deep polaron states are inherent and do not require any bond rupture to form precursor sites. Our results broaden the concept of intrinsic polaron trapping to disordered oxides.

[1] A.-M. El-Sayed, M. B. Watkins, V. V. Afanas’ev and A. L. Shluger, Phys. Rev. B 89(12), 125201 (2014)
[2] A.-M. El-Sayed, K. Tanimura and A. L. Shluger, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 27(6), 265501 (2015)
[3]. H.-H. Nahm and Y.-S. Kim, NPG Asia Materials 6, el43 (2014)
[4]. F. Cerbu, O. Madia, V. Afanasiev, et al., ECS Transactions, 64 (8), 17-22 (2014)
[5]. G. Broglia, G. Ori, L. Larcher, and M. Montorsi, Model. Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng., 22 (6), 065006 (2014)

Resistive random access memories (ReRAMs) have been researched to overcome the drawback of current NAND flash memory. ReRAMs of 3D cross-point array structure have been adopted to achieve high density, in which selection devices are required to suppress cross-talk and sneak current path. So, recently bi-directional selection devices with 2-terminal structure such as ovonic threshold switching (OTS), p-n-p type (PNP), superlinear threshold (SLT), and mixed ionic electronic conduction (MIEC) selection devices have been researched to suppress the cross-talk and sneak current path. In this work, we investigated the electrical features of chalcogenide material based selection device, where the W or TiN / Chalcogenide material / W or TiN configuration with the pattern size of ranging 34 to 1,921 nm. The chalcogenide material layer was deposited by RF magnetron co-sputtering on W or TiN bottom electrode patterned by photo lithography process. Then, W or TiN top electrode was deposited by DC magnetron sputtering. The device performance such as off current, threshold voltage, and non-linearity was confirmed. The selection device showed threshold voltage of ~0.4 V, low off current of < 100nA, on state current of > 58.2kA/cm², and non-linearity of > 30. We explain the device performance depending on changes of film thickness, annealing temperature, device area and super-lattice structure. Also, the uniformity and reliability of the selection device such as cycling test and retention will be reported. In particular, by characterizing the composition and crystallinity of chalcogenide film by using Auger, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), cross sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), we present the mechanism on operating behavior of the selection device.

*This work was financially supported by the Brain Korea 21 Plus 2016, Republic of Korea.

Scaling of semiconductor components has not only led to increases in functionality with simultaneous reduction in integrated circuit cost but also to the introduction of smaller and lighter untethered systems. As part of this trend, we are experiencing a new generation of wearable electronics and wireless elements which service the “Internet of Things” (IoT). Nearly all such devices require a small form factor so that they may be unobtrusive to users which unfortunately results in limited internal energy sources and this, coupled with their long term and/or autonomous operation, mandates ultra-low energy consumption. Since memory accounts for a significant portion of any information processing and communications system, it is obvious that memory in untethered devices must function at extremely low energy. It must also retain data in a non-volatile fashion to allow energy saving strategies such as deep sleep mode and to maintain functionality during periods of energy drought. In addition, the wearable devices and IoT markets are burdened with significant cost sensitivity and so memory technologies should be manufactured with few critical processing steps and with high array efficiency to minimize chip area. One particular class of “things” in the IoT concerns the human body, where instrumentation is being worn or implanted to improve quality of life. Since the health segment of the IoT market includes medical devices, radiation tolerance becomes important as the components must withstand gamma sterilization or therapeutic/diagnostic radiation exposure.
This talk will focus on how Conductive Bridging Random Access Memory (CBRAM^®), a commercialized ultra-low power resistive memory technology, meets the stringent requirements of wearable devices and the IoT. Its low energy operation is inherent in the switching mechanism, which involves metal ion transport and redox reactions in order to form a conducting pathway in an otherwise insulating material.

Tin (Sn)-alloyed SrTiO₃ has recently been identified as a relaxor-like ferroelectric if Sn²⁺ could substitute Sr²⁺. Owing to the possession of two valence states Sn²⁺ and Sn⁴⁺, Sn could occupy both A and B site of II-IV perovskite ABO₃, and thus lead to many interesting properties and significant synthesis challenges. For example, SnTiO₃ with Sn²⁺ on the A-site is predicted by first principle calculation with larger polarization than PbTiO₃ due to the characteristics of Sn²⁺ 5s² lone pair and smaller unit cell volume. In this talk, we present on the growth of atomically smooth, epitaxial, and coherent Sn-alloyed SrTiO₃ films on SrTiO₃ (001) substrates using a hybrid molecular beam epitaxy approach. We show that with increasing Sn concentration, the out-of-plane lattice parameter first increases in accordance with the Vegard’s law and then decreases for Sn > 20 at% due to the incorporation of Sn²⁺ at the A-site, which is qualitatively in agreement with our DFT calculations. A novel yet simple approach using the high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is devised to identify the Sn-site occupation in the lattice of SrTiO₃. Optical Second harmonic generation measurement confirms polarization in Sn-alloyed SrTiO₃ at temperatures as high as 700 °C, increasing further with reducing temperature. The role of growth kinetics on the solubility of Sn in SrTiO₃, phase transitions, and ferroelectric behavior as a function of Sn concentration in SrTiO₃ will be presented.

We demonstrate spike timing dependent plasticity under unipolar programming in silicon oxide ReRAM devices (memristors). Neuromorphic systems have gained an enormous interest in the past years. These systems are attractive for potential scalability, parallelism and fault (defect) tolerance. Memristors are a promising prospect for the realization of electrical synapses in neuromorphic paradigms because of nanoscale architecture and astonishing power-efficiency. Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP) is a core process that is essential for activity-dependent development of neuromorphic systems. Memristors show reliable multilevel resistance switching that can be used as a synaptic weight change. Our test devices are composed of thin, amorphous silicon suboxide layers sandwiched between titanium nitride electrodes. Previously, we have shown nanosecond switching between high and low resistance states. SiOx ReRAM devices are ideal candidates to mimic electrical synapses, although these devises are unipolar. There are multiple papers that show bipolar STDP for various memristive devices; however our silicon oxide based devices can offer desired CMOS compatibility. We demonstrate that through the integration of simple electrical components with unipolar memristive devices it is possible to acquire reliable STDP behaviour.

CMOS/memristor hybrid circuits have recently been proposed to circumvent the current issues of scaling in conventional CMOS technology^1-2 and can be potentially applicable to terabit-scale memories, neuromorphic circuits and reconfigurable logic². However, CMOL (“CMOS”+”MOL”ecular) hybrid circuits require monolithic integration of the memristive components on top of a CMOS stack providing an area-distributed interface for integration². Recent efforts of CMOS/memristor integration typically involve creating memristors between the two metal layers of the CMOS stack³. In this report we demonstrate Ta/Pt/Al₂O₃/TiO_x/Ti/Pt memristive devices monolithically integrated on top of a pre-existing CMOS chip in true CMOL architecture. The electrodes are defined by photolithography and e-beam evaporation while the dielectric stack is deposited by reactive sputtering. A final annealing step is performed in forming gas (2% H₂, 98% N₂). The Al₂O₃ layer works as a barrier to reduce the operating current, an important criterion for compatibility with the underlying CMOS substrate. The non-stoichiometry of the TiO_x switching layer is controlled by the optimizing the O₂ flow rate. The effects of the non-stoichiometry, annealing environment and barrier thickness have been studied in detail. Optimized switching performance is obtained with an oxidation factor of 0.6 for the TiO_x layer, a barrier layer of ~ 3 nm Al₂O₃ and annealing for 15 min in forming gas. The devices exhibit low voltage operation and analog switching behavior. In order to demonstrate the combined memristive and CMOS functionality we perform high-precision tunable multi-level memory operation in the memristive components fully controlled by the underlying CMOS circuitry. We implemented a write-and-verify algorithm to tune the state of the memristor to a desired state with a controllable degree of accuracy. The algorithm was optimized to minimize the number of iterations required to tune to each state. The high-precision tuning algorithm enables us to achieve multi-level operability within a much narrower current range in comparison to conventional multi-level operation in resistive memories. This can be greatly beneficial to ensure low power operation and to reduce complexity of read-circuitry for multi-level memories. All the levels exhibit stable endurance and room –temperature retention. Overall these results show promise for CMOL hybrid circuits in ultra-high-density memory applications.

References
1. K. K. Likharev et al., CMOL: Devices, circuits and architectures, Int. Mol. Electron., pp. 447-477, 2005.
2. X. Ma et al., Afterlife for silicon: CMOL circuit architectures, in Nanotechnology Tech. Dig., 2005, vol. 1, pp. 175-178.
3. S. S. Sheu et al., A 4Mb embedded SLC resistive-RAM macro with 7.2ns read-write random-access time and 160ns MLC-access capability, in ISSCC Tech. Dig., 2011, pp. 200-202.

Thin films of ferroelectric HfO₂-based materials have been investigated for the various types of nonvolatile memories using ferroelectricity, such as conventional capacitor type ferroelectric memories (FeRAMs), ferroelectric FET (FeFET) and ferroelectric tunnel junctions. Advantages of HfO₂-based thin films comparing with conventional perovskite ferroelectric films are their smaller degradation of ferroelectricity with decreasing film thickness, better compatibility with CMOS process and so on. However, present films cannot apply to the high density applications because these films consist of randomly oriented ferroelectric phase together with paraelectric second phase. Inhomogeneity of ferroelectric properties cannot be avoidable when the cell size becomes small for the high density memories because grain numbers of each cells become smaller.
In my presentation, we demonstrate the successfully growth of orientation controlled HfO₂ films on Si substrates for the first time. Lattice matched underlying buffer layer realize (111)-uniaxial oriented HfO₂-based films consist of uniform properties grains. Grain to grain of underlying layer and ferroelectric films shows epitaxial growth, so called local epitaxial growth. Local epitaxial growth can be successfully achieved not only direct crystallization from the vapor, but also solid phase crystallization by the post annealing process after the low temperature deposition. This technique based on the underling layer for epitaxial growth of ferroelectric HfO₂-based films we developed [1, 2]. Well saturated P-E hysteresis loops were observed and this remanent polarization value was almost the same with that of the epitaxially grown films on YSZ substrates. Present results open the high density nonvolatile memory applications with uniform cell properties.
[1] Shimizu et al, Appl. Phys. Lett., 107, 032910-1-5 (2015). [2] Katayama, et al., J. Appl. Phys., 119, 134101-1-7 (2016).

Ferroelectricity in atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) hafnium oxide (HfO₂) is of interest for energy efficient non-volatile memory applications as it leverages a manufacturing friendly material system and a mature thin film deposition technique. Numerous studies have been performed to determine the effects of different dopant atoms on the remnant polarization and coercive field of ferroelectric HfO₂. However, systematic analysis is required to understand the effect of process and substrate related parameters on its ferroelectric properties. To exclude the effect of dopant atoms, an un-doped HfO₂ material system with the potential to reduce process complexity and variability is selected. This work examines the impact of the i) ALD process conditions, ii) thermal annealing profile and iii) underlying substrate on the ferroelectric response of an un-doped HfO₂ film. The resulting phase formation and texture are characterized by x-ray powder diffraction and pole-figure analysis, and the leakage and remnant polarization (P_R) properties are characterized using trap assisted tunneling models and polarization-voltage hysteresis plots respectively.
Metal-insulator-metal structures are utilized to evaluate different process conditions for this study. Amorphous HfO₂ films between 6-8 nm thick are deposited on different technologically relevant bottom electrodes using ALD with TDMA-Hf as source and ozone as oxidant. Grazing incident x-ray diffraction characterization (GI-XRD) shows that shorter annealing suppresses monoclinic phase formation in the resulting crystalline film and correspondingly improves the P_R value of the final stack. The monoclinic fraction can be further reduced by adopting ALD process conditions that incorporate higher oxygen vacancy concentrations in the HfO₂ films, as determined by trap-assisted tunneling models, further enhancing its ferroelectric performance. Using x-ray pole-figure analysis, we also show that certain bottom electrodes play an important role in defining a texture that is shown to be favorable in realizing higher P_R values in HfO₂ films.
Combining the optimized electrode, ALD process conditions, and thermal anneal parameters, a remnant polarization of 13.2 µC/cm² is achieved, which is the highest reported to date for un-doped HfO₂.

Polarization switching in ferroelectric and multiferroic materials forms the basis for the next generation of electronic devices such as field effect transistors, racetrack memories, and tunneling devices. The switching mechanisms in these materials are extremely sensitive to the local defects and structural imperfections at the micro and nanometer scale which have undesirable effects on ferroelectric domains. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) based imaging and spectroscopy techniques are the most popular methods of measuring and manipulating local polarization states at the nanometer scale. However, current SPM techniques use heterodyne detection methods such as lock-in amplifiers which result in significant loss in vital information such as information from higher eigenmodes, mode-mixing, and other non-linear phenomena in the tip-surface interaction. Furthermore, current state-of-art SPM spectroscopy techniques suffer from serious compromises in the measurement rate, measurement area, voltage and spatial resolutions since they require the combination of a slow (~ 1 sec) polarization switching signal and a fast (~ 1 – 10 msec) measurement signal.

We have recently developed a fundamentally new approach to SPM called General-mode (G-mode) where we capture the complete broad-band response of the cantilever at sampling rates of 1-100 MHz. The availability of the complete cantilever response facilitates the application of various physical models as well as multivariate statistical methods to extract information that has been unavailable from current SPM techniques. Here, we present three new imaging and spectroscopy techniques for probing ferroelectric and multiferroic materials. In the first technique, we apply G-mode to inspect the information content when imaging ferroelectric domains. In the second technique, we combine the full cantilever response from G-mode with intelligent signal filtering techniques to directly measure material strain in response to the probing bias. Our technique enables precise spectroscopic imaging of the polarization switching phenomena 3,500 times faster than currently reported methods. The improved measurement speed enables dense 2D maps of material response with minimal drift in the tip position. In the third technique, we modulate the amplitude of the excitation signal to tip to measure the hysteretic behavior of such materials to all combinations of electric fields. This technique will enable significant insight into nanoscale polarization dynamics and phenomena such as polarization fatigue or local wall displacements that remain difficult to study at the desired spatial and temporal scales, and are crucial for integration of ferroelectric nanostructures in future electronic devices.

This research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is sponsored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy.

Thin films of hafnium zirconium oxide (Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ or HZO) are attracting significant attention as promising materials in next-generation transistors for memory and digital applications. The attraction is based on HZO’s ability to exhibit ferroelectricity in films as thin as 8 nm combined with their general compatibility with Si-based device processing. Potential applications are in the fields of ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs) for memory devices and negative capacitance FETs (NC-FETs) for low-power digital devices. However, one challenge to the integration of ferroelectric HZO is the need for specific capping layers in order to form the orthorhombic crystal phase that is responsible for ferroelectric behavior. While many research groups have demonstrated ferroelectricity in HZO with TiN or TaN electrodes and appropriate annealing treatment, the influence of other types of capping layers and the effects of annealing them with HZO remain unclear. In this work, we demonstrate the impact of Pt, Ni, and Pd electrodes sandwiching HZO, ultimately showing that ferroelectricity can be obtained using the appropriate electrode materials, thickness of HZO, and annealing conditions.

We studied parallel-plate (sandwich-style) HZO devices that employed a combination of Pt, Ni, and Pd in symmetric and asymmetric configurations. The impact of a range of thermal annealing conditions on these planar metal-ferroelectric-metal (MFM) capacitors was studied by polarization electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops and endurance/retention characteristics. All of the MFM capacitors were fabricated on oxidized Si substrates with the bottom and top electrodes patterned using photolithography and deposited by electron-beam evaporation. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used to deposit the HZO films at 270 °C, with film thicknesses ranging from 5 to 20 nm studied. Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in a nitrogen ambient was carried out for all devices for 30 s under different temperatures, from 500 - 900 °C. Ferroelectric behavior was realized under certain electrode pairings, annealing conditions, and thickness while other conditions resulted in a leaky MFM device. Also studied are the effects of crystallographic orientation by grazing-angle incidence X-ray diffraction (GAXRD), providing evidence that the bottom electrodes can substantially affect the structure of as-deposited HZO films and its resulting structure following capping and annealing. In summary, the results of this study show that other metal electrodes aside from TiN or TaN can be used to achieve ferroelectricity in HZO, thus expanding the ease of integration into technologically-viable memory and low-voltage digital transistors.

Recent discovery of HfO₂-based ferroelectric thin films makes it possible to realize one-transistor memory cells that offer attractive features such as low power, high speed, small cell size, scalability and CMOS compatibility. As is demonstrated by different experimental characterization methods, ferroelectricity in HfO₂ arises from the creation of a polar orthorhombic phase (space group: Pca2₁) that is generated during the rapid annealing process with the help of a suitable capping electrode. This electrode (typically TiN) provides the confinement that is believed to be essential in the formation of the polar phase. It has also been demonstrated that the polarization in HfO₂ thin film is affected by different fabrication conditions, such as doping species and doping concentration in the oxide, annealing temperature, film thickness etc. Some of the effects of these factors on the film polarization are not yet fully understood. Because the relative ratio of the orthorhombic phase over the non-polar phases determines the functionality of FE-HfO₂ devices, a thorough understanding of what decides this ratio is crucial in optimizing the growth procedure that yields the best performing oxide film. To this end, in this ab initio study, we investigate the energetics of different bulk phases of HfO₂ with varying amounts of Si and Zr doping and different epitaxial strain states. We also describe simulated results for HfO₂ thin films which aim to describe surface/interface and thin film confinement effects.

Conventional perovskite-based ferroelectric (FE) materials such as Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ experience severe scalability and CMOS compatibility issues for non-volatile memory applications. Hafnia (HfO₂) thin films offer a strong prospect in this front, particularly in the FE-Random Access Memory and FE-Field Effect Transistor (FEFET) memory devices, as they surpass the aforementioned limitations owing to their interesting FE properties, excellent Si compatibility, easy CMOS integration and high scalability ^[1]. In fact, a 28 nm FEFET based on doped hafnia has been successfully tested towards memory applications ^[2]. However, the origin of the FE behavior of hafnia thin films is not well understood as the known equilibrium phases of hafnia are centrosymmetric and hence, non-polar. Recent investigations ^[3] suggest that two (low energy) non-equilibrium polar orthorhombic phases of hafnia, namely Pca2₁ and Pmn2₁, may be responsible for the FE behavior. Nonetheless, the thermodynamic conditions under which these polar phases may be stabilized remain unclear. Among various possible factors, the most compelling ones appear to be (1) surface energy due to the small grain sizes ^[4], (2) non-hydrostatic stresses associated with the electrodes ^[5,6], (3) field induced phase transformation ^[5] and (4) dopants ^[1]. Using first-principles density functional theory calculations, we studied the effects of the first three factors, determining the conditions under which a polar phase becomes favored. We found that while the combination of stress and electric field can stabilize Pca2₁, surface energy effects can result in the formation of either Pca2₁ or Pmn2₁. These results can help to better tune the FE characteristic of hafnia and entail a next generation simple binary material for non-volatile storage.

References
[1] M. H. Park et al., Advanced Materials 27, 1811 (2015)
[2] J. Muller et al., Symposium on VLSI Technology 25, 12–14 June (2012)
[3] T. D. Huan et al., Physical Review B 90, 064111 (2014)
[4] R. Batra et al., Applied Physics Letters 108, 172902 (2016)
[5] R. Batra et al., (in preparation)
[6] M. Hyuk Park et al., Applied Physics Letters 104, 072901 (2014)

In magnetoelectric materials, it is possible to vary the electric polarization by application of a magnetic field, or the magnetization by an electric field. However, completely reversing the direction of electric polarization by a magnetic field has only be attained so far at temperatures close to absolute zero, in intrinsic multiferroic materials in which the ferroelectric and magnetic orders are coupled in the crystal unit cell. Extrinsic or hybrid multiferroic materials are composites made of a ferroelectric and a ferromagnetic material, in which the two ferroic orders are coupled by strains arising from piezoelectricity and magnetostriction. In such materials, it was so far not possible to switch permanently the electric polarization by application of a magnetic field, let alone at room temperature.

In order to reach this goal, which would open renewed opportunities in the field of memory storage and sensing, we have designed nanopatterned multiferroic layers combining a soft ferroelectric polymer and a rigid magnetic metal. Layers of ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-ran-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) are nanoimprinted in order to generate cylindrical cavities of 65 nm diameter placed over a square lattice of 200 nm period. Ferromagnetic Nickel is then electrodeposited in the open cavities, giving rise to a hybrid supracrystalline material.

The ferroelectric hysteresis loops of PVDF-TrFE are then measured by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM). The ferroelectric hysteresis loops are more narrow by a factor of up to two in the presence of a magnetic field of either polarity, which we ascribe to magnetostriction combined with flexoelectricity. Repeated measurements of the ferroelectric loops indicate the progressive relaxation of stresses in the ferroelectric polymer, resulting in a progressive broadening of the loops with the number of test cycles. Experiments performed on control samples, either a bilayer Nickel/PVDF-TrFE sample, or a sample into which Pt replaces Ni, indicate no dependence on magnetic field. Based on these observations, we devise an experiment in which, after having relaxed the ferroelectric polymer by cyclic probing and thereby broadened its ferroelectric hysteresis loop, we apply a magnetic field which recreates the stresses and flips permanently the electric dipole moment in the PVDF-TrFE matrix, at room temperature.

These experiments demonstrate that, by properly designing a hybrid multiferroic layer, an unusually strong magnetoelectric coupling can be created at room temperature. Possible applications are in magnetically-writable ferroelectric memories and magnetoelectric sensors.

Conductivity of ferroelectric domain walls continues to be an active and controversial topic [1] despite almost ten years after the original discovery of the phenomenon in BiFeO₃ [2] . The prospects of practical applications of this phenomenon, as well as the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms, has been hindered by large contact resistance, likely inevitable for metal-ferroelectric contacts.

Motivated by unique properties of microwave probes to peer beyond contact effects, we extended the search for domain wall conductance into microwave frequencies. To this end, we combined piezoresponse force microscopy with microwave microscopy, enabling the probe of local tunability and conductance at high frequencies and with ~50 nm resolution. Much to our surprise, domain walls in both BiFeO₃ and Pb(Zr_xTi_y)O₃ are conducting at 3 GHz. Even more remarkable is that the conductance of nominally straight walls is comparable to corresponding ac-conductance of doped silicon, seemingly contradicting the now predominant correspondence between domain wall charge and its conductivity. We propose and demonstrate, using phase-field simulations, that intrinsic disorder in the ferroelectric volume will create sufficiently “rough” morphology of the domain wall. The wall thus becomes locally charged, while maintaining overall electroneutrality. Although such configuration may not have continuous electronic connectivity, it will be conducting at AC frequencies, where the carrier motion is oscillatory and therefore largely localized. On the other hand, microwave measurements are substantially free from contact effects, enabling both quantitative insight into domain wall conductance, and, for the first time, a completely non-destructive electronic read-out of domain walls. The latter is crucially important for prospective applications of domain wall circuits, but it also finally enables decoupling electric field read-out of conductance and field-induced changes of the domain walls. Finally, given the novelty of microwave technique, we will touch upon the specifics of microwave measurements, their interpretation and material requirements that enable interpretation of conductive phenomena.

Support was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Science and Technology Division. Microscopy experiments were performed at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

References
[1] Petro Maksymovych, Nature Nanotechnology, 10, 571–573, (2015).
[2] J. Seidel et. al., Nature Materials, 8, 229, (2009).
[3] A. Tselev, P. Yu, Y. Cao, L. R. Dedon, L. W. Martin, S. V. Kalinin, P. Maksymovych, Nature Comms., DOI:10.1038/ncomms11630 (2016).

Multiferroic BiFeO₃ shows many promising functionalities emerging from its intercoupled ferroelectric polarization, transport, mechanical and magnetic properties. Mixed-R/T (rhomboheral/tetragonal) phase BiFeO₃ thin films grown on LaAlO₃ substrates show a strain-induced morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) and have attracted particular interests for piezoelectric applications due to their large field-induced strains. More generally, the phase instabilities of this MPB can be triggered in other BiFeO₃ thin film systems via an applied field-induced polarization rotation mechanism. The availability of various local/global excitation in scanning probe platforms afford unique opportunities to survey the structural dynamics of BiFeO₃ coupled to those field variables, enabling rapid discovery or validation of their functional properties.
In this work, using band-excitation piezoresponse force spectroscopy/microscopy, we systematically investigated the R−T phase transition dynamics, driven by local tip bias/pressure as well as device-level global electric fields, in (001)-BiFeO₃ epitaxial ferroelectric thin films with different substrate strains. Probing phase transition dynamics at such a fine length scale in real space, as opposed to those traditionally accessed via e.g. X-ray/neutron scattering and macroscopic physical property measurements, has enabled us to reveal complex dynamic interplay between the lattice polarization rotation mechanism and heterogeneous domain microstructures in the films. Phase-field modeling was also performed to help obtain a systematic understanding of the polarization switching and rotation behavior of the system under pertinent electrical/mechanical boundary conditions. Furthermore, we will discuss potential technological applications of the phase instabilities of BiFeO₃ in tunable devices based on our observations.
Reference: 1. Q. Li et al, Nat. Commun 6, 8985 (2015); 2. Q. Li et al, submitted (2016)

Polarization rotation induced by an external electric field in piezoelectric materials such as PbZr_1-xTi_xO₃ (PZT) is generally believed to be the origin of their large piezoelectric responses. However, this postulate has never been demonstrated experimentally because of lack of a model material with which to study the role of polarization rotation exclusively. We have discovered the same M_A-type monoclinic phase as the PZT at the MPB as a distinct phase in the solid solution between rhombohedral (Space group (SG); R3c) BiFeO₃ (BFO) and tetragonal (SG; P4mm) BiCoO₃, BiFe_1-xCo_xO₃ (BFCO)^[1], at x ~ 0.3. Furthermore, the polarization rotation between [001]_pc and [111]_pc (Subscript pc denotes the pseudo-cubic notation) was observed as functions of temperature and composition^[2] in powder x-ray diffraction. Since the monoclinic phase has a giant c/a ratio (~ 1.26) which originates from BiCoO₃, the M_A-type monoclinic phase is identified without ambiguity. The monoclinic BFCO is therefore an ideal material with which to study the role of the polarization rotation in piezoelectric materials. In this study, we fabricated high-quality cobalt-substituted BiFeO₃ epitaxial thin films with a giant c/a ratio by pulsed laser deposition, and systematically studied the relationship between the crystal structure and the piezoelectric responses. We demonstrate that polarization rotation does play a crucial role to realize improved piezoelectric responses in this material. [1] M. Azuma et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 47, 7579 (2008). [2] K. Oka et al., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 51, 7977 (2012).

Magnetic Heusler compounds are a promising candidate in the field of spintronics due to their ability to show half-metallicity [1]. This feature significantly enhances the magnetoresistance effect in nanostructures which is essential for magnetic applications such as nonvolatile random access memory [2]. We have grown Fe₂CrAl (FCA) thin films on silicon substrates using ultra-high vacuum deposition with a base pressure of less than 9×10^-10 Torr. The film thickness ranges from 30 to 100 nm. These thin films exhibit a disordered A₂ type cubic structure, and exhibit ferromagnetic behavior with a Curie temperature above 400 K. Saturation magnetization and magnetic moment increase with film thickness. These films display metallic behavior. The application of a magnetic field alters the value of resistivity of these films. The magnetic and transport behavior of this alloy is affected by lattice site disordering.
[1] C. Felser, L. Wollmann, S. Chadov, G. H. Fecher, and S. S. P. Parkin, APL Mater. 3, 041518 (2015)
[2] S. Mizukami, and A. A. Serga, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48, 160301 (2015)

BaTiO₃ has been extensively used for electronics and actuators because of its dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties. Recently, BaTiO₃ nanoparticles are explored as filler material in nanocomposites for non-volatile memories. However, the use of sub-100 nm nanoparticles is challenging because decreasing particle size is correlated with loss of its ferroelectric tetragonal phase. In this work, various polycrystalline sub-100 nm BaTiO₃ nanoparticles are made in one step by hydrogen-driven Flame Spray Pyrolysis (FSP). Their crystal and particle sizes are controlled by the equivalence ratio of the flame and the high temperature particle residence time. The phase composition of the collected BaTiO₃ nanoparticles and larger commercial particles was analyzed by X-Ray diffraction and in-situ Raman spectroscopy. In these polycrystalline nanoparticles the tetragonal phase and high c/a lattice ratio was maintained, despite having small crystal sizes. Consequently, nanocomposites containing polycrystalline flame-made BaTiO₃ fillers were prepared and evaluated electrically by means of polarization- and capacitance-voltage characteristics as they have great potential in thin flexible non-volatile memories.

Multiferroic materials are of great interest from the scientific and technological viewpoints based on their multifunctional behavior involving ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, ferroelasticity and a strong electromagnetic coupling properties. Among these materials ,BiFeO₃ (BFO), is a well-known multiferroic with simultaneous ferroelectricity (T_C=1103K) and G-type antiferromagnetism (T_N=643K). In this work we doped BiFeO₃ with Mn species and studied the doping effect on the corresponding magnetic properties, expected from the substitution of Bi³⁺ by Mn²⁺. Additionally, the optimum processing conditions to prevent the formation of any impurity phase were also identified. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) characterization confirmed the formation of powdered impurity-free BFO in pure and 7% Mn-BFO only after annealing of the precursor compounds at suitable temperatures and time (700°C, 15min). Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) verified the formation of perovskite structure in bismuth ferrite, whereas Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis were used to determine the size and morphology of synthetized powders. Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) measurements showed that maximum magnetization values increased with doping and reached a maximum value in the 7% Mn-doped BFO annealed at 700°C for 15min; the magnetization in the non-saturated MH loops reached 0.68 emu/g. This behavior can be attributed to the actual incorporation of Mn species into the BFO lattice and the substitution of non-magnetic Bi species.

Multiferroic materials possess at the same time more than one ferroic property such as ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism and ferroelasticity. The coexistence of these physical properties can open the door for developing new devices. It has been reported that the multiferroism in doped perovskite structure is only possible through the coupling of adatoms impurity and oxygen vacancy.¹ In this regard, a control over the crystal size is crucial because oxygen vacancy and/or adatoms impurity can be stabilized on the nanocrystal surface, which it can be increased by diminishing the crystal size. In this regards, it is crucial to use synthesis that lead to high quality nanocrystals with controlled morphology.² Here we will present the synthesis and characterization of highly uniform BaTiO₃ nanocrystals doped with different transition metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Co) as potential multiferroic materials.

We found, by transmission electron microscopy that this synthesis can lead to highly uniform nanocrystals with a controlled morphology. The phase purity was confirmed by X-ray diffraction up to 6% of nominal doping concentration. The presence of the unpaired electrons, fundamental to achieve a magnetic order, was confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) for Cr, Mn, and Fe doped samples. The ferroelectric properties have been confirmed from preliminary switching spectroscopy piezoelectric force microscopy (SS-PFM) experiment in Fe doped samples.
Bibliography
1. Apostolova, I. N.; Apostolov, A. T.; Bahoosh, S. G.; Wesselinowa, J. M. J. Appl. Phys. 2013, 113, 203904.
2. Caruntu, D.; Rostamzadeh, T.; Costanzo, T., Parizi S. S.; Caruntu, G. Nanoscale 2015, 7, 12955–12969.

PbZr_1-xTi_xO3 (PZT), one of the most researched and technologically important perovskite oxides, shows excellent properties such as high dielectric constant and piezoelectric constant in the vicinity of the morphotropic phase boundary that makes this material quite promising for many applications, such as ferroelectric memories, electronic resonators, electrostrictive actuators and sensors. The crystal structure, dielectric, and other related physical properties, namely Curie temperature, electrical conductivity, and ferroelectric coercitivity of PZT can be tuned by substituting isovalent or heterovalent ions into the sites of Pb and/or Zr/Ti. With this motivation, highly oriented Pb_0.85Sc_0.10Zr_0.53Ti_0.47O₃ (PSZT) thin films were deposited on La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ (LSMO) coated MgO(100) substrates. PSZT and LSMO layers were grown by two subsequent laser ablation processes in oxygen atmosphere. The process optimized PSZT depositions were carried out on the MgO at the temperature of 600 °C utilizing pulse laser deposition with the KrF excimer laser (λ = 248 nm having energy/pulse 250 mJ at 10 Hz) and subsequently annealed at 700 °C for 1 hour in an ultrapure oxygen ambient. The orientation of the PSZT films was mainly in tetragonal (100) plane as revealed by x-ray diffractometry. Raman results confirmed the room temperature tetragonal phase formation and its transition to paraelectric phase was probed employing temperature dependent studies. Spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements were carried out to determine the complex refractive index and the thickness of the films. The dielectric and electrical measurements were conducted on LSMO/PSZT/Pt metal-ferroelectric-metal capacitors using impedance analyzer and electrometer, respectively, as a function of temperature (100-600 K) and frequency (10²-10⁶ Hz). Polarization hysteresis cycles of the samples were also measured.

Recently, novel metastable phase materials prepared by high pressure synthesis have been reported. Among them, BiCoO₃¹ and Bi(Zn_0.5Ti_0.5)O₃² are promising ferroelectric materials due to their high tetragonality, c/a, of over 1.2. Large spontaneous polarization is expected by first principal calculation. BiCoO₃ is a one of multiferroic, but unfortunately it is very leaky because of containing Co³⁺(d⁶). On the other hand, Bi(Zn_0.5Ti_0.5)O₃ is constructed by only d⁰ and d¹⁰ ions. Unfortunately, nobody reported their ferroelectricity. We can expect that leakage property will be better than that of BiCoO₃. Therefore, we have focused on Bi(Zn_0.5Ti_0.5)O₃ and prepare novel ferroelectric materials. Epitaxial Bi(Zn_0.5Ti_0.5)O₃-BiFeO₃ thin films with about 300 nm thickness were grown at 700^oC on (100)_cSrRuO₃//(100)SrTiO₃ by pulsed metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using Bi[(CH₃)₂(2-(CH₃)₂NCH₂C₆H₄)] (Tosoh Co. Ltd), Zn(C₁₄H₂₅O₂)₂, Ti(O i-C₃H₇)₄, Fe(C₂H₅C₅H₄)₂ and oxygen gas as the source materials. We have conducted cross sectional high resolution XRD and HAADF-STEM. It is observed that all diffraction peaks from the films can be identified to tetragonal P4mm symmetry as same as Bi(Zn_1/2Ti_1/2)O₃, and a single perovskite phase is achieved to fabricate. The out-of-plane (c-axis) and in-plane (a-axis) lattice parameters calculated from diffractions are 0.465 nm and 0.381 nm, respectively, resulting in a giant tetragonal distortion of (c/a)-1 = 22%. This value is 3.5 times larger than the 6.3% of PbTiO₃. In addition, this [(c/a)-1] is larger than the reported one for pure Bi(Zn_1/2Ti_1/2)O₃, [(c/a)-1] = 21%. Similar enlargement of the [(c/a)-1] by the substitution with BiFeO₃ has been reported in PbTiO₃-BiFeO₃, even if the substituted BiFeO₃ has rhombohedral symmetry. The “90^o domain boundary” has a 51^o/39^o angle due to the large tetragonality, which is in good agreement with 50.7^o/40.3 ^o value based on the crystal structure information obtained by XRD measurement. Z-contrast image to perovskite unit cell shows that the B-site ions are also displaced along [001] significantly away from the center. There are in good agreement with structure analysis of the Bi(Zn_1/2Ti_1/2)O₃ prepared by high pressure synthesis. In addition, as XRD results showed no super lattice peaks, B-site cations in perovskite are not ordered. These results clearly indicate that this material is characterized as displacive-type ferroelectric, and unusual angle of the 90^o domain is originated from large tetragonal distortion. We will also perform to measure ferroelectricity for discussing relationship between ferroelectricity/piezoelectricity and tetragonality in these materials. ¹A. A. Belik, S. Iikubo, K. Kodama, N. Igawa, S. Shamoto, S. Niitaka, M. Azuma, Y. Shimakawa, M. Takano, F. Izumi, and E. Takayama-Muromachi, Chem. Mater. 18 (2006) 798. ²M. R. Suchomel, A. M. Fogg, M. Allix, H. Niu, J. B. Claridge, M. J. Ro sseinsky, Chem. Mater. 18 (2006) 4987.

The rapid rise of 2D materials has thus far not involved complex dielectric materials. Presently, most 2D materials are chalcogenide semiconductors; metal functionality is represented by the graphene and several others while the insulator function is singularly carried out by the linear dielectric boron nitride. We argue that non-linear dielectrics coupled with electronic 2D materials enable new approaches to encapsulate and control 2D materials, and will contribute to applications involving responsive functions, such as sensing, switching, and memory.
To this end we are investigating transition metal thiophosphates (TMTP) in which several van-der-Waals compounds have been known to exhibit bulk ferroelectric ordering. TMTPs are characterized by relatively thick single layers (~0.8 nm) and ionic bonding within each layer. The cohesive energy is comparable to graphite, enabling exfoliation of nanocrystals and single sheets [1]. In this talk, we will analyze ferroelectric domains in CuInP₂S₆ – the only layered ferroelectric bulk above room temperature (T_c = 309 K) . We have found intriguing chemical phase separation within this system that increases the T_c up to 340 K [2]. Chemical phase-separation also controls the soze pf ferroelectric domains from several microns to several 10’s of nanometers without changing chemical composition. Ferroelectric domains continue to persist as the 2D limit is approached; samples as thin as 10 nm exhibit polarization, far below the expectations based on Landau-Ginzburg model for a proper ferroelectric semiconductor [3]. Likewise, ferroelectric domains do not follow the conventional Kittel scaling law as a function of thickness. From analytical modelling of polarization screening, we surmise that the surface of these materials should be intrinsically heavily doped, or possibly even conducting – echoing famous 2DEGs hypothesis for open ferroelectric surfaces. Finally, local ferroelectric switching in ultrathin flakes is intertwined with ionic diffusion of Cu atoms. This may result in erratic and damaging switching at room temperature, but polarization switching and ionic diffusion can be efficiently decoupled at low temperatures [3]. Ionic-ferroelectric coupling can be potentially exploited toward bistable 2D ionic swiches.

Research sponsored by Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U. S. DOE. Microscopy experiments were conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

1. Susner M. A., Chyasnavichyus M., McGuire M. A., Ganesh P., and Maksymovych P., “Transition Metal Thiophosphate and Selenophosphates as Multi-Functional Layered and 2D Materials”, subm. to Adv. Mat., (2016).
2. Susner M. A. et al. ACS Nano, 12 (2015) 12365.
3. Chyasnavichyus M., Susner M. A., Kalinin S. V., Balke N., E. Eliseev, A. N. Morozovksa, McGuire M. A., Maksymovych P. subm. Appl. Phys. Lett. (2016).

With the advent of the information age, quantum computation and artificial intelligence have been identified as new trend. Comparing with binary system, multiple-valued logic is an attractive idea for next generation computing tools, because it possesses numerous data bits, enough intercom bandwidth, and corresponding logic gates. Ferroelectrics are promising candidates due to their easy-processing, sensitivity to polarizing, and potential in more than two polarization states. A continuous multilevel system can be realized by metastable states between the stable binary states. Through various external bias, the polarization level can be controlled precisely. Superposition of any two states is also studied to achieve computational operation. Here, we demonstrate a continuous multilevel storage system at nanoscale, and the corresponding computational operation in situ. NAND gate is split into more basic logic elements to realize high integration level of the device. Also, these elements are applicable for continuous multilevel system and chaos logics besides current binary system, which are able to be the interface from any-nary system to any logic operation. By applying the system into quick response codes (QR codes), it will be upgraded to high capacity data storage. Furthermore, by superposition a normal QR code with another pattern, the reliable information security is considered as well.

Ba_1-xSr_xTiO₃ is a well-known material for room-temperature-based voltage-tunable dielectric thin films due to its large dielectric constant of more than 6000. Among other doping concentrations, Ba_0.4Sr_0.6TiO₃ (BST) is paraelectric at 300K, and turns ferroelectric (T_C) at 200K. In addition, recently, we have shown¹ that BST shows weak ferromagnetic behavior even up to 400K. However, there has been no report on what happens when BST is in contact with room temperature ferromagnetic layer such as La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO), particularly, when they are integrated with semiconductors such as Si (100) substrates, which is the main focus of the present work. BST (200 nm)/LSMO (63 nm) heterostructures were deposited on MgO/TiN buffered Si (100) using pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements show that these films are of single phase and epitaxial in nature, with minimum lattice strain of < 0.2%, which is unrelaxed thermal and defect induced strain. The temperature- and magnetic field- dependent measurements showed that the Curie temperature (T_C) of LSMO is reduced by about 25 K (from 350 to 325 K); the coercive field (from 400 Oe to 800 Oe) and the exchange bias (H_EB) (from 155 Oe to 305 Oe) measured at 4 K are increased by ~ 2-fold, when BST is in contact with LSMO layer. Such H_EB is found to disappear at and above 200 K, which is the ferroelectric T_C of BST. From our experimental findings, among other mechanisms², the ferroelectric nature of BST is believed to cause such changes in the magnetic properties of BST/LSMO heteterostructure.
¹Singamaneni et al. Appl. Phys. Lett., 108, 142407 (2016); ² Singamaneni et al. J. Appl. Phys. 116, 224104 (2014).

We report a detailed study on the synthesis and characterizations involving magnetic, pyroelectric, dielectric and magneto-electric coupling measurements on recently reported multiferroic compound Co4Nb2O9. X-ray diffraction data confirm phase pure synthesis of polycrystalline Co4Nb2O9 in the α-Al2O3-type trigonal crystal structure (space group P-3c1). Magnetic measurements indicate an antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition at around 28 K. Concurrent with the magnetic phase transition, a sharp peak in the pyroelectric current data confirm appearance of a magnetic structure driven electric polarization with a large magneto-electric coupling constant 16.8 μC/m2T. The magnitude of polarization increases with application of external magnetic fields (during poling) and is reversible by changing the polarity of the electric field. A sharp peak is also seen in dielectric constant across the Neel temperature that depends on magnitude of externally applied magnetic field. Co4Nb2O9 is a collinear antiferromagnet and possesses a magnetic symmetry -3'm', which is in support of the observed large magneto-electric coupling constant.

Intensive research is currently underway to exploit the highly interesting properties of nano-bits (“nano-sized particles and molecules”) for optical, electronic and other applications. The basis of these unique properties is the small-size of these structures which results in quantum mechanical phenomena and interesting surface properties. The small molecules and/or nano-particles are selected in such a way so that it can create an internal electric in the nano-composite. We have demonstrated the internal electric field in our devices, made from nano-bits (nano-particles and/or molecules) and insulating materials, can contribute to the electrical bistability i.e. two conductive states..

Memory devices play an important role in the electronics arena and inspire advances in the technologies. There has been always growing need to look for inexpensive, fast, high density and longer data retention time memory devices. This work describes the use of nano-bits in flash-like memory devices. These devices show two electrical conductance states (“high” and “low”) when voltage is applied, thus rendering the structures suitable for data retention. These two states can be viewed as the realisation of non-volatile memory. In this presentation, the progress in the use of “nano-bits” in memory devices over the last ten years will be presented, and invoke the conundrums that scholars of this field are currently faced with, proposed theories explaining the experimental data and contradictions in the published work by different groups. The proposed answers to the puzzles, wherever applicable, will be presented.

Key References
K. Saranti, S. Alotaibi and S. Paul. Sci. Rep. 6, 27506; doi: 10.1038/srep27506 (2016)
S. Paul, IEEE Transaction on Nanotechnology, (2007), 6, 191-195.
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D.C Prime, I. Salaoru, Z Al Halafi, M Green and S. Paul (2013), ECS Transactions, 53 (4), pp. 141-148
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Prime, D. and Paul, S. (2009), Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A-Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences, 367 (1905) pp. 4141-4157..
S. Paul, C. Pearson, A. Molloy, M. A. Cousins, M. Green, S. Kolliopoulou, P. Dimitrakis, P. Normad, D. Tsoukalas and M C Petty, Nano Lett., (2003), 3, 533-536.

Electrically tunable resistors realized in two terminal structures seem to be one of the most versatile innovations in the semiconductor industry with many possible applications such as logic circuitry or neuromorphic systems. In particular, inorganic resistive switching devices utilized as non-volatile memory are close to commercialization. Also resistive switching effects in organic devices have been presented in a multitude of devices and novel materials. Recently the fabrication of organic resistive switches using environmentally friendly inkjet-printing methods and their integration into fully functional hybrid crossbar array structures has been demonstrated.
To further expand the usage of organic resistive switches in integrated devices in this contribution we show a unique imaging device concept and its utilization in an organic, flexible detector array with a simple passive matrix wiring. The application of photo-switchable non-volatile resistive multi-bit 2-terminal devices as pixels is demonstrated. This approach is based on a vertical stack consisting of an organic photo diode (OPD), acting as photosensitive element and an organic non-volatile multi-bit resistive switch (ORS), acting as image information storage element. In addition to a basic on/off operation mechanism, a grey-scaling capability based on the multi-bit capability of the ORS is demonstrated up to 4-bit. Moreover in the serial connected device stack the OPD not only acts as the light-sensitive element but given its high rectifying behavior also renders a selector element allowing for passive matrix addressing in the array. The proper functionality of this concept is demonstrated in single elements and array structures up to 32 by 32 cells (1024 bit), integrated into an organic and flexible passive-matrix image detector array.

Hybrid materials consisting of polymers mixed with metal oxide materials have many advantages for the low temperature solution processing of memristor devices over large areas and on flexible, inexpensive and lightweight substrates. The ability to further engineer these materials at the nanoscale could also provide a promising way to improve the devices electrical properties and switching performance. For example the use of nanoparticles or nanorods could be used to establish highly localized electric fields at site specific locations and different polymer types could be used to regulate ionic drift/diffusion and filamentary formation kinetics or introduce new functionality (e.g. sensing properties). In this report we present a simple and novel approach for making hybrid memristor devices using only solution based methods. The devices have a simple crossbar configuration consisting of Cr/Au/ZnO-PMMA/Au. The active ZnO-PMMA material consists of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods (length 250 nm, diameter 40-50 nm) embedded in PMMA. The ZnO nanorods are grown using a very simple and ultra-fast microwave heating method, which permits growth of the vertically aligned nanorods in just a few minutes. The PMMA polymer is spin-coated onto to the top of the ZnO nanorods and annealed so as to diffuse between the pores of the nanorods and remove any residual solvent. The resistive memories exhibits reliable and reproducible bipolar resistive switching at low switching voltage and with low power usage. Importantly the devices do not need an electroforming step to initiate switching in the devices. The switching properties of the devices can be attributed to a combination of the high aspect ratio of the nanorods and the inclusion of the insulating polymer material in the device structure. In contrast devices made without the PMMA layer exhibit poor stability and unpredictable changes in the Set and Reset voltages. The fabrication of both types of devices is extremely easy and fast and uses simple inexpensive equipment with patterning possible over large areas, characteristics well suited for use in low cost memory applications such smart cards, e-books and e-cards. [1]

[1] E. Verrelli, R.J. Gray, M. O’Neill, S.M. Kelly and N.T. Kemp, “Microwave Oven Fabricated Hybrid Memristor Devices for Non-Volatile Memory Storage” Mater. Res. Express 1(4) 046305 (2014)

Today, the consumer electronic devices such as smart phone, tablet, and IC card are frequently upgraded and discarded in a short period. Since these devices are mainly made of non-renewable, non-biodegradable, and some toxic materials, the emission of these devices to the environment causes a serious damage for ecological system. Here we demonstrate an environment-friendly, disposable nonvolatile memory device composed of 99.3 vol.% nanocellulose. Our memory device consists of a nanocellulose-based resistive-switching layer and nanopaper substrate. The device exhibited the nonvolatile resistive switching with the capability of multilevel storage and the potential scalability down to single nanofiber level (ca. 15 nm). Furthermore, the biodegradability of our memory device was confirmed by burying it into the natural soil for 26 days. Thus these results offer the sustainable development of electronics using nanocellulose based green electronic devices.

[Ref] Nagashima K. et al. ‘Cellulose Nanofiber Paper as an Ultra Flexible Nonvolatile Memory’ Sci. Rep. 4, 5532 (2014).

Organic-inorganic perovskite materials including mixed halide perovskites have recently emerged as the promising materials in electronic and optoelectronic devices including photodetectors, light-emitting diodes, and memory devices in addition to solar cell applications. This material exhibits hysteresis in current-voltage responses due to defect and/or ionic movement/migration. Utilizing the defects in the organic-inorganic perovskite materials realizes the application to memory devices. Here, we demonstrate flexible nonvolatile memory based on CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite layer as the resistive switching element on the plastic substrates. The perovskite layer on the indium-tin oxide (ITO)-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate can be prepared by solution process at low temperature. Uniform perovskite layer is obtained by the solvent engineering method. Flexible perovskite resistive switching memory exhibits low voltage operation with good mechanical stability, reproducible switching endurance under bending, and long retention property. [1] The resistive switching behavior of the perovskite devices is thought to be due to migration of iodide vacancies and formation of the conductive filament path way under the electric field. Improvements in switching speed and operating voltage can be achieved by controlling the halide concentration in the film. This study will offer a new possibility for organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite material to be used in next-generation flexible memory devices.

[1] C. Gu and J. –S. Lee, ACS Nano 10, 5413 (2016).

The realization of bioinspired circuits that mimic the signal processing capabilities of the brain demands the reproduction of both short- and long-term aspects of synaptic plasticity on a single device level. The emergence of organic electronics has made available a host of new materials and devices with properties that are well-suited to address this challenge. We show how mixed conductivity in organic semiconductors can be leveraged to demonstrate neuromorphic functions similar to the basic short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity. Namely, we demonstrate in organic transistors phenomena such as short- to long-term memory transition and functions such as depression, adaptation and dynamic filtering. We further show that complex interconnections between the devices can be established through an electrolyte, paving the way for the realization of complex processing circuits at the interface with biology.

Spin-based electronics has a large impact on daily life being the back-bone of modern data storage technology. Currently the main efforts in the field are directed toward miniaturization of spintronic devices while increasing the spin injection in such devices to maintain a significant response to magnetic field. However, further progress in the field requires a comprehensive understanding of spin transport at the atomic scale. Molecular junctions, composed of a single molecule suspended in between two metallic electrodes, are natural candidates for this task.
In this talk, I will describe recent experiments conducted on molecular junctions consisting of a benzene molecule bridging two ferromagnetic electrodes in a mechanically controllable break junction device. Using conventional transport measurements, we show that the presence of a molecule in our devices can result in an enhanced response to magnetic field. The magneto-resistive response is found to be tunable by changing the inter-electrode distance. Our findings will be explained in the context of selective orbital hybridization.

We developed flexible nonvolatile optical memory devices based on the organic field effect transistors (OFET) with bis[1]benzothieno[2,3-d;2′,3′-d′]naphtho[2,3-b;6,7-b′] dithiophene (BBTNDT) as the active layer. We focus on investigating the intrinsic charge trapping properties of this organic semiconductor through optical and electrical manipulation to the charge traps. These manipulations facilitate the charging and discharging processes happening at the interface between the dielectric layer and BBTNDT semiconductor and thus such OFET can be used as organic nonvolatile optical memory transistors (OMT). In our devices, anodized Al2O3 dielectric insulator is used to reduce the operating voltage of the devices during optical programming and electrical erasing process. Additionally, the transistors show a field effect mobility up to 1.5 cm2V-1s-1 and excellent data retention for more than 6 hours with a current ratio higher than 103 between the two binary states. Based on the measured results, the extrapolated on/off current ratio can maintain for more than 2 days, which is a promising value for the OMT based on intrinsic charge traps. Compared with floating gate and adding extra charge trapping agent (metal nanoparticles or electret layers) memory structures, our devices have comparable performance while reducing complexity of device structure and fabrication cost and time. We also observed a deterioration of memory effect when the grain size of BBTNDT is smaller than 200nm, which indicates the trap density of BBTNDT can be engineered by controlling its degree of crystallinity. Potentially, these flexible OMT can be arranged into active matrix array form under conformal architecture for aberration-free image sensing.

The never-ending demand for information technology with improved high-density and low-fabrication costs is pushing the research toward new materials and architectures. In this context, novel non-volatile memory (NVM) devices are currently investigated. Amongst the different candidates competing to be the next new-generation memories, resistive switching NVM (R-NVM) devices are increasingly appealing and are on the edge of commercialization.
An R-NVM is a simple two-terminal device made by an interlayer material sandwiched between two metal electrodes. For the realization of the interlayer, organic materials as well as metal oxides have been successfully employed. Organic materials such as small molecules or polymers provide many advantages over inorganics, including integration on flexible substrates, printability and low fabrication costs. However, in order to successfully match low manufacturing costs with the need of high-density memory modules, the size-miniaturization of organic R-NVM must be further investigated and verified whether resistance-switch mechanism occurs at lateral nanometric scale.
In this contribution we report on the size miniaturization of organic R-NVMs in the nanometric scale. First, we employed glancing angle deposition to realize vertical nanocolumn-structures resembling nano-devices. The devices based on small molecule semiconductors were fabricated with diameter smaller than 100 nm. Due to the small feature size a scanning force microscope has been used to form the top contact and electrically characterize single nano-devices. The resistive switching mechanism of the nano-devices is unambiguously attributed to filament formation of metallic conductive paths between the electrodes. However, because of technical limitations given by the measurement setup the devices could not be reversibly switched between both logic states.
Therefore in a second step, in order to overcome these technical limitations and to have proof of principle that complete reversible switching is possible at the nanometric scale in organic R-NVMs, analogous planar nano-devices were fabricated. Highly-defined planar contacts with lateral size of 100 nm were fabricated via electron beam lithography. The spatial separation of 100 nm between the electrodes was filled with a thin film of small molecule semiconductor via thermal evaporation. Standard current-voltage electric characterization was performed confirming the ability to switch the device in both logic states. The formation of conductive filaments between the electrodes is confirmed by direct observation via transmission electron microscopy.
In conclusion the resistive switching at nanometric scale of organic NVMs was investigated and it was confirmed that filament formation switching takes place also within nanometric devices. High-density organic NVM arrays were therefore fabricated achieving information density of more than 1 GB/cm².

Enhancing the device performances of organic memory devices while providing high optical transparency and mechanical pliability requires an optimized combination of functional materials and smart device architecture design. However, it remains a great challenge to realize fully transparent and mechanically durable nonvolatile memory because of the limitations of conventional metal electrodes. Here, we demonstrate ferroelectric nonvolatile polymer memory devices that use graphene electrodes as the epitaxial growth substrate for crystalline poly(vinylidene fluoridetrifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) polymer. The strong crystallographic interaction between PVDF-TrFE and graphene results in the orientation of the crystals with distinct symmetry, which is favorable for polarization switching upon the electric field. The epitaxial growth of PVDF-TrFE on a graphene layer thus provides excellent ferroelectric performance with high remnant polarization in metal/ferroelectric polymer/metal capacitor devices. Furthermore, a fully transparent and flexible array of ferroelectric field effect transistors was successfully realized by adopting transparent poly[bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine] semiconducting polymer. The ferroelectric field effect transistors shows high performance memory properties including notable multiple write/erase endurance of 125 cycles, excellent data retention of more than 10000 sec, fully operating within 0.05 sec and reliable operation under bending test.

Ferroelectric capacitors Pt/Pb(Zr_0.48Ti_0.52)O₃(PZT)/Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si for FeRAM applications are studied, including investigation of films texture, hysteresis loops, polarization dependences of transient currents, and local current distribution. PZT films are prepared by the two-steps crystallization process with the use of seeding sublayers deposited by CSD technique from solutions with different Pb excess. The first crystallization step (seeding layer) is performed at low Pb excess, which provides low nucleation rate to form large-sizes Pe (111) grains. The final crystallization step (bulk film) is conducted at 30% Pb excess to prevent pyrochlore phase formation and provide Pe grains growing.
It is shown that sublayer crystallization in the case of low Pb content leads to sufficient enhancement of Pe (111) texture providing the highest values of remanent polarization.
Seeding sublayers and first crystallization step have an impact on film transient current and its polarization dependences, which are sensitive to grains boundaries conduction, as it was found recently [1]. All films show current peaks near the coercive strength, however in the case of nonconductive grain boundaries the current value is higher if the bias and polarization directions coincide; to the contrary, for conductive grain boundaries, the higher current value is observed if the bias is directed against the polarization.
The films prepared with 30% Pb sublayer excess, and ones obtained without excessive Pb content at the first crystallization step demonstrate typical for conductive grain boundaries polarization dependence of the current. Local current distributions obtained by Scanning Spreading Resistance Microscopy confirm the grains boundaries conduction in these films as well as the presence of nonconductive grains boundaries in the others studied films.
In conclusion, the effect of grain boundaries conduction on the polarization dependence of the transient current can be important and should be taken into account in FeRAM whose readout operation assumes registration of polarization switching current. Crystallization with low Pb content seeding sublayer leads to enhancement of Pe (111) film texture and significantly improves film polarization properties.

[1] L. Delimova, E. Guschina, V. Yuferev, I. Grekhov. Phys. Solid State, 56, pp. 2451-2460 (2014)

The recent technological advances in organic electronics have required high performance organic memory compatible with other devices for the realization of all organic systems. The majority of inorganic/organic memory devices are operated by non-volatile manipulation of electric signal sources such as charges, current and voltage. Typical organic memories adopt a device with a capacitive architecture or a field effect transistor structure in which either non-volatile polarization arising from ferroelectric switching or electric/ionic resistance is programmed and erased upon electric field. In spite of the great success in these types of organic memories dealing with electrical signals, the development of ones based on optical information such as electroluminescence (EL) of organic and polymeric fluorescent materials is not prevailing, which can be extremely useful as a non-volatile EL memory with the great potential in the variety of emerging information storage applications for imaging and motion sensors. Here, we demonstrate a novel non-volatile EL memory in which arbitrarily chosen EL states are programmed and erased repetitively with long EL retention. Our memory is based on utilizing the built-in electric field arising from the remanent polarization of a ferroelectric polymer which in turn controls the carrier injection of an EL device. A device with vertically stacked components of a transparent bottom electrode/a ferroelectric polymer/a hole injection layer/a light emitting layer/a top electrode successfully emits light upon alternating current (AC) operation. Interestingly, the device exhibits two distinctive non-volatile EL intensities at constant reading AC voltage, depending upon the programmed direct current (DC) voltage on the ferroelectric layer. DC programmed and AC read EL memories are also realized with different EL colors of red, green and blue, giving rise to full colored non-volatile EL memories. Furthermore, highly reliable more than 4 distinguishable EL states are precisely addressed upon the programmed voltage input each of which shows excellent EL retention and multiple cycle endurance of more than 10⁵ seconds and 10² cycles, respectively.

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) has attracted much attention as novel electrode material for ferroelectric random access memory because of its low cost, good optical and electrical properties. For ferroelectric integration, sapphire is promising substrate material due to the durables, low cost, and has a desirable dielectric constant. In this study, we fabricated the AZO thin films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) as bottom electrode on c-plane Al₂O₃ (0001) substrate. Then, we studied the effects of PLD conditions for the fabrication of AZO films on the crystallographic orientation, surface morphology, and ferroelectric properties.
AZO (ZnO:Al₂O₃, 98.5:1.5 wt%) bottom electrode layers were deposited on Al₂O₃ (0001) substrate by PLD using ArF excimer laser (λ = 193 nm, 100 mJ, and 20 Hz) at various oxygen pressures (0.02 and 2.0 Pa) and substrate temperatures (RT and 600°C). Ferroelectric (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PLZT) thin films (Pb:La:Zr:Ti, 113:3:30:70) were deposited via chemical solution deposition. Pt top electrode layers were deposited onto the PLZT thin film using sputtering with a shadow mask.
ZnO (001) orientation was confirmed by XRD. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) values of ZnO (002) deposited with 0.02 and 2.0 Pa at RT were 4.4° and 3.0°, respectively. The FWHM values deposited with 0.02 and 2.0 Pa at 600°C were 1.2° and 0.80°, respectively. The crystallinity improved by increasing oxygen pressure and deposition temperature. Electrical properties for ferroelectric capacitors will also be discussed.

Discovery of new complex oxides that exhibit coupled ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties is of great interest for the design of functional magnetoelectrics, in which research is driven by the long-term technological prospect of controlling ferromagnetic hysteresis with an electric field and vice versa. Multiferroics offer opportunities for sensors, 4-state logic, and spintronics. Single-phase coupled multiferroics are of theoretical interest due to the possibility of a quantum character in such coupling. BaMn₃Ti₄O_14.25 (BMT-134) is a recently discovered single-phase multiferroic complex oxide exhibiting antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric behavior. In an attempt to exhort a room temperature ferroic order response, BMT-134 was doped with Fe at varying degrees. Using a chemical solution processing approach, two distinct variations of nanocrystals were synthesized; BaMn_3-xFe_xTi₄O_14.25 (BMFT) with x = 1, x = 2. All variants were found to belong to the same hollandite crystal class as BMT-134 and Fe was shown to be incorporated into the crystals of each, proportional to the precursor ratios. Using EDS, elemental composition was determined qualitatively and iron content was corroborated with precursor amount. Impedance analysis was performed on parallel plate capacitors made from pellets of the material, to determine the effect of iron doping on dielectric strength and dissipation factor. TEM and SEM techniques were used to determine size distribution and morphology of the nanoparticles and of their packing within pellets. Due to the porous nature of arrayed annoparticles, 0-3 nancomposites were fabricated, using high k polymers to infiltrate inherent void space allowing for a more stable dielectric over the frequency range of 100Hz - 2MHz,.

Crystallization characteristics of Ag-incorporated Ge₂Sb₂Te₅(AGST) showed faster speed and lower temperature for crystallization than Ge₂Sb₂Te₅(GST). Many researches reported that these improvements could be attributed to a minute structural change because of incorporated Ag. For an in-depth study, we investigated the minute structural change in detail and its relationship with the phase change characteristics. Using various structural measurement methods and chemical bonding measurement tools, fine structural change, electron density distribution, and bond strength were confirmed in GST thin film with the quantity of incorporated Ag of 0%, 1%, and 10%. From these experimental methods, we identified that Ge-Te short-bond length is decreased and homo-polar Ge-Ge bond is induced as the quantity of incorporated Ag increases. Incorporating the Ag into Ge site, the nearest neighbor bond strength between Ge and Te becomes entirely weakened. In atomic picture, the incorporated Ag induces one strong bond with nearest Te, while the other bonds with Te are rather weakened. Therefore, the change in bond strength induces the modulation of bond length between Ge and Te. That is, Ge-Te short bond becomes shorter and long bond becomes longer, relatively. This structural change indicates that the AGST has more strong Peierls distortion characteristics, compared with GST. Finally, the modulated Peierls distortion changes the phase transition characteristics, such as the fast transition speed and decrease in phase change temperature.

Semiconductor nanoclusters/nanocrystals attract a great interest because of substantial transformation of their optical, electrical and luminescent properties due to quantum confinement effects. During last decades the most attention was paid to the Si nanocrystals (Si-ncs) embedded in SiO₂. The mechanism of the Si-ncs formation in SiO₂ was investigated in details. It was shown that the fabrication conditions and post-processing affect the sizes and spatial distribution of Si-ncs in oxide host. Based on the obtained results and good compatibility with existing CMOS technology, an application of Si-ncs-SiO₂ nanomaterials for microelectronics and photonics was described.
The Ge-ncs embedded in SiO₂ were also considered, whereas the Ge-ncs embedded in "high-k" oxides were not often addressed. However, for precise control of the optical and structural properties of these materials, the details investigation of the effect of the deposition conditions and post deposition treatment was required.
In present work, the Ge-rich-HfO₂ and Ge-rich-ZrO₂ films were fabricated by confocal RF magnetron sputtering of pure Ge and HfO₂ (or ZrO₂) targets in pure Ar plasma. The structural, optical, luminescent and electrical properties of the films were investigated versus deposition conditions and thermal treatment by means of ellipsometry, Raman scattering, FTIR, XRD, Auger spectroscopy and TEM methods.
The as-deposited films of both types were found to be amorphous and chemically homogeneous in-depth. An annealing stimulates a phase separation and a formation of Ge-ncs over the film volume. The “start point” of this process depends on Ge content and on the nature of "high-k" host. Although the phase separation begins in the most samples at about 600-700°C, the higher Ge content results in the lowering of the temperature caused phase separation and crystallization of Ge nanoclusters. Along with this, the formation of tetragonal "high-k" phase occurs that offers an achievement of higher dielectric constant. Similar thermal treatment leads to the formation of larger Ge nanoclusters in ZrO₂ host than those in HfO₂ one. The "memory" effect was obtained for the both types of the films being dependable on the processing conditions. The mechanisms of phase separation as well as the effect of the nature of "high-k" host on the formation of Ge-ncs will be discussed in details from thermodynamics’ point of view to find the way to monitor properties of Ge-rich high-k oxide films for their future application.

Spin capacitors have potential to store both the electronic charge and magnetic spin and can produce conventional electric current and spin polarized current. The time evolution of spin polarized electrons injected into the piezoelectric material can be used for an accurate sensing of magnetoelectric field. The proposed capacitive structure consists of the piezoelectric insulating material navy-II PbZrTiO3 (PZT) with different electrode configurations. Navy-II PZT has lowest the dielectric dissipation (< 2%) and high piezoelectric coefficient (d33 = 400 x 10-2 m/V). In the present work, we fabricated Ni/PZT/Ni and Ni/PZT/Ag capacitors. We instigated magtocapacitance and magnetoimpadance at different frequencies. Dielectrics loss tangent and phase angle were instigated as a function of magnetic field and frequency. The results were compared with the conventional capacitor (Ag/PZT/Ag). Two thickness for the PZT ferroelectric insulating barrier where use: 1mm (commercially obtained) and 200μm. Dielectric measurements where done by a wide range of frequencies which show resonance of the material at specific frequencies. The different thickness samples show a shift on the resonance frequency where the thinner sample showed a shift into lower frequencies. In the conventional capacitor the shift of the 200μm sample was of approx. 650000 Hz lower than the 1mm thick sample. In the Ni/PZT/Ag capacitor the shift of the 200μm sample was of approx. 600000 Hz lower than the 1mm thick sample. In the Ni/PZT/Ni sample the resonance peaks started to appear at earlier frequencies in the 1mm sample with more than one large peak found compared with the 200μm sample which had one observable large resonance at the range of 267 kHz, whereas the 1mm has starting resonance at 170 kHz.

Nonvolatile memories featuring ferroelectrics and multiferroics remain promising due to their stability, switching speed, and switching energy. To achieve the highest data densities, as well as other functionalities such as piezotronics, 3-dimensionally structured devices are inevitable. In this work, the piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of micro- and nano-structured PMN-PT, PZT, and BFO are investigated with vector piezoresponse force microscopy. Substantial variations in converse-piezoelectric coefficients are confirmed at the strain relieved edges of micropatterned islands, with up to a factor of 3 improvement. Movies of the domain switching process also reveal enhanced or diminished nucleation and growth as a function of film strain and geometric strain relief. This couples into variations in the switching energy, and time, of up to an order of magnitude depending on bit location. Such investigations thereby provide valuable guidance for future device design.

Magnetic Heusler alloys have very attractive properties for applications in thin film magnetoelectronic technologies, including as magnetic memories and magnetic sensors for hard drive read heads [1]. Excitingly, the predictions of a half-metallic, fully spin-polarized state in the Heusler Co₂MnSi have recently been experimentally confirmed [2], highlighting the potential of Heuslers for enabling spintronic devices.

We have produced thin films of Heusler alloys Co₂MnSi and Co₂MnGa by pulsed laser deposition on lattice-matched MgO and GaAs substrates at a range of deposition temperatures and we have characterised their structure, magnetic and magnetotransport properties. Critical for achieving and exploiting high spin polarisation, we have achieved optimum magnetic and magnetotransport properties, including a high Curie temperature up to 900 K, high saturation magnetisation up to ~ 1000 emu/cc and ‘giant’ anomalous Hall effect up to ~1600 Scm^-1, at growth temperatures from 325 - 450 ⁰C. However, the best structural ordering as determined by XRD is obtained at growth temperatures of 700 - 800 ⁰C. We will discuss neutron diffraction and transmission electron microscopy investigations of the thin films to understand how the magnetic and structural ordering changes with growth temperature.

[1] Z. Diao, M. Chapline, Y. Zheng, C. Kaiser, A. Ghosh Roy, C.J. Chien, C. Shang, Y. Ding, C. Yang, D. Mauri, Q. Leng, M. Pakala, M. Oogane, Y. Ando, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 356, 73 (2014).
[2] M. Jourdan, J. Minár, J. Braun, A. Kronenberg, S. Chadov, B. Balke, A. Gloskovskii, M. Kolbe, H. J. Elmers, G. Schönhense, H. Ebert, C. Felser, M. Kläui, Nat. Commun. 5, 3974 (2014).

High-performance and low-cost non-volatile memory has become an essential part of electronic devices and logic storage units. Downscaling limitations in conventional Si charge storage based non-volatile memories stimulates the development of other scalable memory devices having reliable performance. Resistive random access memory (ReRAM), based on the resistance change of oxide material to applied fields, is one of the important non-volatile memories because of its potential for high scalability, high-density integration, fast response, and non-volatility. Although various oxide based ReRAM devices possess good switching properties but recently investigated Graphene Oxide (GO) based ReRAM devices have shown better switching properties in regards to high storage capacity and power tunable flexible devices. Also, it is possible to control several different resistive switching characteristics in graphene oxide; unipolar, bipolar, non-polar, and complementary types by changing the graphene oxide processing and the device geometry. In the present work, different resistive switching behaviors were observed by changing the processing conditions for the device fabrication namely as: (1) adding Au nanoparticles to the graphene oxide solution before spin-coating or (2) dipping graphene oxide films into a solution of Au nanoparticles after spin coating GO. A 3-layer ITO/GOAu/Al and A 5-layer ITO/GO/Au/Al₂O₃/Al device structures were fabricated. Both, processing conditions and device geometry changed the device characteristics drastically. These types of devices fabricated with simple processing techniques can be viewed as potential candidates for the future non-volatile memory applications.

In this work we have developed a novel memory stack architecture, all grown with low-temperature atomic layer deposition within the same vacuum reactor. The stack consisted of Al2O3 as control oxide, Pt nanoparticles as charge storage layer, HfO2 as tunnel oxide, and finally ZnO as the transistor channel layer. By tuning the thicknesses of each stack layer and using different number of ALD cycles for Pt nanoparticle growth, we were able to achieve sufficient high/low resistance ratio accompanied with a wide (> 4 V) voltage hysteresis window.

The ALD recipes were developed in a thermal-ALD reactor with conventional H2O coreactant for Al2O3, HfO2, and ZnO, whereas ozone was used for Pt deposition. The metal oxides formed uniform continuous films whereas Pt was grown in the form of nanoparticles. Moreover, the average size of Pt nanoparticles could be adjusted using number of ALD cycles. To analyze the impact of Pt nanoparticle size on the charge storage capacity of the fabricated memory stacks, we have used different number of growth cycles changing between 10 and 50 cycles. All Pt-ALD experiments revealed uniformly distributed Pt nanoparticles with quite repeatable average diameters, ranging from sub-nm to 4-5 nm. This ultimate particle size control and high uniformity plays an important role in achieving high performance charge storing capacity.

We believe that our metal-oxide/metal-nanoparticle/metal-oxide architecture grown in the same reactor without any vacuum breaks and at low-temperatures (less than 200C) might provide an alternative technology towards high-performance non-volatile flash memory devices.