Role of electrode materials in resistive switching mechanisms of oxide-based memristors for enhanced neuromorphic computing: A comprehensive study

Abstract

This study extends the state-of-the-art TaOx-based memristors by explicitly coupling electrode-dependent thermal conductivity to the electrical-thermal solver and by treating drift, diffusion, and Soret flux on equal footing. By examining titanium (Ti), palladium (Pd), and tungsten (W) electrodes, conductive filament (CF) dynamics is studied, particularly the role of thermal and electrical properties in governing oxygen vacancy migration. The enriched model reveals that Ti's low thermal conductivity (21.9 W/m·K) lowers the forming voltage to −1.72 V and boosts the peak diffusion flux to 5.4 A/cm², whereas W's high thermal conductivity (174 W/m·K) suppresses filament growth, requiring −2.01 V. This is the first quantitative decomposition of the three vacancy-transport mechanisms under realistic Joule-heating conditions, enabling direct correlation between electrode choice and device variability. Our systematic analysis of drift, diffusion, and Soret flux mechanisms provides deeper insight into CF formation, stability, and device reliability. The insight translates into markedly tighter resistance distributions for Ti devices (σ/μ = 0.011 in LRS) and promising 10,000-s retention at 150 °C, pointing toward electrode-engineered RRAM for reliable neuromorphic computing. These findings underscore how careful electrode material selection can significantly enhance RRAM performance, reliability, and scalability, thereby presenting a promising device platform for neuromorphic and in-memory computing applications.