Ferroelectricity-induced resistive switching in Pb(Zr 0.52Ti 0.48)O 3/Pr 0.7Ca 0.3MnO 3/Nb-doped SrTiO 3 epitaxial heterostructure

Abstract

We investigated the effect of a ferroelectric Pb(Zr 0.52Ti 0.48)O 3 (PZT) thin film on the generation of resistive switching in a stacked Pr 0.7Ca 0.3MnO 3 (PCMO)/Nb-doped SrTiO 3 (Nb:STO) heterostructure forming a p-n junction. To promote the ferroelectric effect, the thin PZT active layer was deposited on an epitaxially grown p-type PCMO film on a lattice-matched n-type Nb:STO single crystal. It was concluded that the observed resistive switching behavior in the all-perovskite Pt/PZT/PCMO/Nb:STO heterostructure was related to the modulation of PCMO/Nb:STO p-n junction's depletion width, which was caused either by the PZT ferroelectric polarization field effect, the electrochemical drift of oxygen ions under an electric field, or both simultaneously. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.