Improvement in the resistive switching performance of LaMnO₃ by dendritic Cu₂S

The integration of dendritic materials into resistive switching (RS) devices offers a promising avenue for improving RS performance. This is because they have the ability to provide structural guidance to charge carriers, thus regulating the random path formation and breakage, which is a crucial requirement in the switching mechanism. In this study, we incorporated dendritic Cu₂S with a snowflake-like morphology as a filler in a LaMnO₃ host matrix with varying Cu₂S concentrations. We investigated the overall enhancement in RS performance in comparison to pure LaMnO₃. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) experiments convincingly demonstrate phase consistency and improved crystallinity, as well as the Cu₂S dendrite-guided packing of LaMnO₃. The X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) data support an increase in oxygen vacancies, rising from 26.84% to 46.61%, and the evolution of oxygen from the lattice site to the interstitial site and then their removal from the interstitial position to generate oxygen vacancy due to the inclusion of Cu₂S. The RS mechanism is associated with the valence change memory (VCM) type, aided by the creation of a structurally guided oxygen vacancy-mediated conducting path. The incorporation of Cu₂S enhances RS behavior, resulting in a minimum SET/RESET voltage of + 1.2 V/− 1.2 V and an ON–OFF ratio of 2.7. Cyclic endurance of up to 100 cycles was tested, and the performance was found to be satisfactory. Increasing the compliance current leads to a modest increase in the ON–OFF ratio. In all samples, the conduction mechanism is identified as trap-assisted space charge limited conduction (SCLC).