Bipolar Resistive-Switching Phenomena and Resistive-Switching Mechanisms Observed in Zirconium Nitride-Based Resistive-Switching Memory Cells

This paper reports bipolar resistive-switching (RS) characteristics and its mechanism observed from Pt/ZrN/Ti capacitors. This ZrN-based RS memory (RSM) shows excellent program/erase behavior under +3 V/10 ns and -3 V/10 ns with a high-to-low resistance ratio of > 10(4). The device also showed an endurance of > 10(9) cycles and a retention time of > 10(4) s at 85 degrees C. The temperature-dependent studies of ON/OFF states show that metallic conduction is responsible for ON state, whereas semiconducting or insulating behaviors are clearly observed from OFF-state devices. These results show that ZrN-based RSM can be used as a promising RSM device.