Unidirectional Oxide Hetero-Interface Thin-Film Diode with Improved Electrical Current

Abstract

In this paper, we propose new structure of unidirectional oxide hetero-interface thin-film diode for enhanced on-current density with low operating voltage by inserting ultrathin insulator layer. It is figured out that the governing mechanism of thin film diode transfers from the space-charge-limited-conduction (SCLC) model to Fowler–Nordheim tunneling (FNT) model depending on the insulator thickness of below 10 nm. The current density of the ultrathin insulator film (3 nm thick) diode is 104 times higher than the diode with 30 nm thick insulator. Consequently, the simple engineering of insulator layer thickness enables to reach the high current density and low operating voltage. Furthermore, the ultrathin insulator film diode has strong potential for nano-scale applications such as resistive-random-access-memory (ReRAM) selectors and micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS).