Impact of thermal annealing on the abrupt transition behavior of TiOx and TaOx resistive memories
摘要
This study presents a comprehensive comparison of Tantalum Oxide (TaOx) and Titanium Oxide (TiOx) structures deposited with the sputtering method and further annealed at temperatures below 300 °C in the context of their integration into RRAM technologies. The results show that TiOx structure exhibits superior performance at a higher temperature threshold of 150 °C, while TaOx is optimized for a lower manufacturing temperature of 70 °C. Thermal stability and resistive switching characteristics of both structures have been verified. The findings indicate that TiOx structure’s robustness at elevated temperatures correlates with enhanced memory window and lower current levels during the SET cycle, making it a viable candidate for sub-150 °C applications. Conversely, TaOx demonstrates commendable energy efficiency and reliability at lower operational temperature, suggesting its suitability for energy-sensitive environments. Both structures were manufactured at temperatures lower than conventional Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and thermal annealing methods, which makes them CMOS-compatible and applicable in back-end-of-the-line semiconductor fabrication.