Temperature dependence of resistive switching in aluminum/anodized aluminum film structure

Abstract

Resistive switching in anodized aluminum thin film structure and its temperature dependence have been studied in this work. A lower reset voltage (V reset)/set voltage (V set) was observed at an elevated temperature, suggesting that the conductive filaments were formed or ruptured more easily at a higher temperature. The carrier transport mechanisms were examined also. At low fields (<V reset), both the low-resistance state (LRS) and high-resistance state (HRS) showed ohmic conduction at both room temperature and elevated temperatures up to 100 °C. The ohmic conduction of the LRS is due to the metallic conduction paths formed by the high concentration of aluminum inside the dielectric layer, while the ohmic conduction of the HRS is attributed to the hopping of thermally excited electrons from one isolated state to the next. At high fields (>V reset), other conduction mechanisms including the Schottky emission and the Poole-Frenkel emission were involved in the current conduction. Copyright © 2011 American Scientific Publishers.