Resistive Switching and Current Conduction Mechanisms in Hexagonal Boron Nitride Threshold Memristors with Nickel Electrodes

Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 34

Abstract

Abstract The 2D insulating material hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) has attracted much attention as the active medium in memristive devices due to its favorable physical properties, among others, a wide bandgap that enables a large switching window. Metal filament formation is frequently suggested for h‐BN devices as the resistive switching (RS) mechanism, usually supported by highly specialized methods like conductive atomic force microscopy (C‐AFM) or transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Here, the switching of multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) threshold memristors with two nickel (Ni) electrodes is investigated through their current conduction mechanisms. Both the high and the low resistance states are analyzed through temperature‐dependent current–voltage measurements. The formation and retraction of nickel filaments along boron defects in the h‐BN film as the resistive switching mechanism is proposed. The electrical data are corroborated with TEM analyses to establish temperature‐dependent current–voltage measurements as a valuable tool for the analysis of resistive switching phenomena in memristors made of 2D materials. The memristors exhibit a wide and tunable current operation range and low stand‐by currents, in line with the state of the art in h‐BN‐based threshold switches, a low cycle‐to‐cycle variability of 5%, and a large On/Off ratio of 107.

Authors 11

1. Lukas Völkel Aachen Chair of Electronic Devices

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Electronic Devices RWTH Aachen University Otto‐Blumenthal‐Str. 2 52074 Aachen Germany

   Chair of Electronic Devices, RWTH Aachen University, Otto-Blumenthal-Str. 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany

2. Dennis Braun Aachen Chair of Electronic Devices

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Electronic Devices RWTH Aachen University Otto‐Blumenthal‐Str. 2 52074 Aachen Germany

   Chair of Electronic Devices, RWTH Aachen University, Otto-Blumenthal-Str. 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany

3. Melkamu Belete Aachen Chair of Electronic Devices

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Electronic Devices RWTH Aachen University Otto‐Blumenthal‐Str. 2 52074 Aachen Germany

   Chair of Electronic Devices, RWTH Aachen University, Otto-Blumenthal-Str. 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany

4. Satender Kataria Aachen Chair of Electronic Devices

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Electronic Devices RWTH Aachen University Otto‐Blumenthal‐Str. 2 52074 Aachen Germany

   Chair of Electronic Devices, RWTH Aachen University, Otto-Blumenthal-Str. 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany

5. T. Wahlbrink Aachen AMO GmbH Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen

   AMO (Germany)

   Affiliation as printed

   AMO GmbH Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen Otto‐Blumenthal‐Str. 25 52074 Aachen Germany

   AMO GmbH, Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen, Otto-Blumenthal-Str. 25, 52074 Aachen, Germany

6. Ke Ran Aachen Central Facility for Electron Microscopy

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Ernst Ruska Centre · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE) RWTH Aachen University Ahornstr. 55 52074 Aachen Germany

   Ernst Ruska‐Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER‐C 2) Forschungszentrum Jülich 52425 Jülich Germany

   Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE), RWTH Aachen University, Ahornstr. 55, 52074 Aachen, Germany

7. Kevin Kistermann Aachen Central Facility for Electron Microscopy

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE) RWTH Aachen University Ahornstr. 55 52074 Aachen Germany

   Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE), RWTH Aachen University, Ahornstr. 55, 52074 Aachen, Germany

8. Joachim Mayer Aachen Central Facility for Electron Microscopy

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Ernst Ruska Centre · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE) RWTH Aachen University Ahornstr. 55 52074 Aachen Germany

   Ernst Ruska‐Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER‐C 2) Forschungszentrum Jülich 52425 Jülich Germany

   Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE), RWTH Aachen University, Ahornstr. 55, 52074 Aachen, Germany

9. Stephan Menzel

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Peter Gruenberg Institute (PGI‐7) Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and JARA‐FIT 52425 Jülich Germany

10. Alwin Daus corresponding Aachen Chair of Electronic Devices

    RWTH Aachen University

    Affiliation as printed

    Chair of Electronic Devices RWTH Aachen University Otto‐Blumenthal‐Str. 2 52074 Aachen Germany

    Chair of Electronic Devices, RWTH Aachen University, Otto-Blumenthal-Str. 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany

11. Max C. Lemme corresponding Aachen Chair of Electronic Devices AMO GmbH Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen

    AMO (Germany) · RWTH Aachen University

    Affiliation as printed

    AMO GmbH Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen Otto‐Blumenthal‐Str. 25 52074 Aachen Germany

    Chair of Electronic Devices RWTH Aachen University Otto‐Blumenthal‐Str. 2 52074 Aachen Germany

    AMO GmbH, Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen, Otto-Blumenthal-Str. 25, 52074 Aachen, Germany

    Chair of Electronic Devices, RWTH Aachen University, Otto-Blumenthal-Str. 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany