Effects of heat dissipation on unipolar resistance switching in PtNiOPt capacitors

Abstract

We fabricated PtNiOPt capacitor structures with various bottom electrode thicknesses tBE and investigated their resistance switching behaviors. The capacitors with tBE 50 nm exhibited typical unipolar resistance memory switching, while those with tBE ≤30 nm showed threshold switching. This interesting phenomenon can be explained in terms of the temperature-dependent stability of conducting filaments. In particular, the thinner tBE makes dissipation of Joule heat less efficient, so the filaments will be at a higher temperature and become less stable. This study demonstrates the importance of heat dissipation in resistance random access memory. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.