Impact of Top Electrodes on the Nonvolatile Resistive Switching Properties of Citrus Thin Films

Abstract

Natural citrus thin films on an indium tin oxide (ITO)/glass substrate were synthesized using the solution method for resistive random access memory (RRAM) applications. The results indicated that the citrus memory device possessed stable resistive switching behavior. For a clear understanding of the role of the interface reaction between the top metal electrode and the citrus film, we investigated the influences of various top electrode (TE) materials on the resistive switching in TE/citrus/ITO devices. In comparison with Au/citrus/ITO and Ti/citrus/ITO devices, the Al/citrus/ITO device can be reproduced with a DC voltage of more than 100 times while only showing a slight decrease in the ON/OFF ratio. In addition, the Al/citrus/ITO device exhibited a high ON/OFF ratio of over 104 and an outstanding uniformity, which was attributed to the fast formation of a native oxide layer (AlOx), as confirmed by the line scan analysis. This indicated that the interface layer, created by the redox reaction between the Al electrode and citrus film, played an important role in the resistive switching properties of TE/citrus/ITO structures. These findings can serve as design guidelines for future bio-based RRAM devices.