Blanka Magyari-Köpe

Magnified image The structures and electronic properties of Ta₂O₅ polymorphs were calculated using density‐functional theory employing the generalized gradient approximation with on‐site Coulomb corrections. Using this approach, a pseudo‐hexagonal structure was found to be a stable polymorph of Ta₂O₅ over δ‐ and β‐Ta₂O₅ and metastable relative to other recently proposed structures. Its diffraction spectrum and bandgap energy are in good agreement with experimental data. Therefore, the pseudo‐hexagonal structure might form in polycrystalline films and affect the switching process of resistive memory devices. Moreover, a neutral oxygen vacancy is found to induce an occupied defect state at 2.5 eV above the top of the valence band, in agreement with X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy results.

Resistance change random access memory (RRAM) cells, typically built as MIM capacitor structures, consist of insulating layers I sandwiched between metal layers M, where the insulator performs the resistance switching operation. These devices can be electrically switched between two or more stable resistance states at a speed of nanoseconds, with long retention times, high switching endurance, low read voltage, and large switching windows. They are attractive candidates for next-generation non-volatile memory, particularly as a flash successor, as the material properties can be scaled to the nanometer regime. Several resistance switching models have been suggested so far for transition metal oxide based devices, such as charge trapping, conductive filament formation, Schottky barrier modulation, and electrochemical migration of point defects. The underlying fundamental principles of the switching mechanism still lack a detailed understanding, i.e. how to control and modulate the electrical characteristics of devices incorporating defects and impurities, such as oxygen vacancies, metal interstitials, hydrogen, and other metallic atoms acting as dopants. In this paper, state of the art ab initio theoretical methods are employed to understand the effects that filamentary types of stable oxygen vacancy configurations in TiO(2) and NiO have on the electronic conduction. It is shown that strong electronic interactions between metal ions adjacent to oxygen vacancy sites results in the formation of a conductive path and thus can explain the 'ON' site conduction in these materials. Implication of hydrogen doping on electroforming is discussed for Pr(0.7)Ca(0.3)MnO(3) devices based on electrical characterization and FTIR measurements.

We performed first-principle simulation for the study of oxygen vacancy defect in rutile TiO₂based on density functional theory. The effects of a vacancy on the electronic structure of rutile TiO₂were studied. Here we have employed neutral and charged oxygen vacancy in the supercell to address the resistance switching mechanism. Neutral vacancy induces the band gap states at deep level, ∼0.7 eV below the conduction band minimum, which is occupied by highly localized electrons. The calculation results of positively charged oxygen vacancy show that larger atomic relaxation surrounding oxygen vacancy results in the stretching of Ti-O bond around vacancy, thus band gap states are formed near the conduction band minimum.