A Flexible Nickel-Oxide-Based RRAM Device Prepared Using the Solution Combustion Method

Abstract

Binary metal oxide materials, such as nickel oxide, are widely used in flexible resistive variable memory devices due to advantages such as their easily controllable material composition, simple structural composition, and good compatibility between manufacturing processes and complementary metal oxide processes. In this work, a solution combustion method was employed to prepare NiOx thin films for use as a resistive switching layer of resistance random-access memory. The formation temperature of the NiOx layer in the RRAM device was kept as low as 175 °C, making the device compatible with flexible substrates. With polyethylene naphthalenediate as the substrate, the NiOx-based RRAM exhibited obvious bipolar resistance-switching properties, superb bending resistance, and good stability. Through theoretical fitting and structural characterization, the conduction mechanisms were attributed to the combination of the space-charge-limited current and Ohmic mechanisms, while the valence change mechanism was determined to be the resistive switching mechanism. This study demonstrates a low-temperature and scalable approach to constructing NiOx-based RRAM devices on flexible substrates.