Impact of thermal annealing on the abrupt transition behavior of TiOx and TaOx resistive memories

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive comparison of Tantalum Oxide (TaO_x) and Titanium Oxide (TiO_x) structures deposited with the sputtering method and further annealed at temperatures below 300 °C in the context of their integration into RRAM technologies. The results show that TiO_x structure exhibits superior performance at a higher temperature threshold of 150 °C, while TaO_x is optimized for a lower manufacturing temperature of 70 °C. Thermal stability and resistive switching characteristics of both structures have been verified. The findings indicate that TiO_x structure’s robustness at elevated temperatures correlates with enhanced memory window and lower current levels during the SET cycle, making it a viable candidate for sub-150 °C applications. Conversely, TaO_x demonstrates commendable energy efficiency and reliability at lower operational temperature, suggesting its suitability for energy-sensitive environments. Both structures were manufactured at temperatures lower than conventional Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and thermal annealing methods, which makes them CMOS-compatible and applicable in back-end-of-the-line semiconductor fabrication.