Improving resistive switching effect by embedding gold nanoparticles into ferroelectric thin films

The ferroelectric memristor, as a new type of nonvolatile memory, has a broad prospect in the fields of infor-mation storage, exchange, and neural computing. Nowadays, it is still a challenge to achieve ferroelectric memristor with high resistive switching effect. In this work, epitaxial Ca-doped Pb(Zr0.40Ti0.60)O3 films embedded various concentrations Au nanoparticles (NPs) (Abbreviated as Au-PCZT) were deposited on the Nb: SrTiO3 (NSTO) substrate to form Au-PCZT/NSTO heterostructures. On the one hand, adding appropriate Au NPs into the PCZT films can improve the leakage current. When Au NPs capture electrons, the current in the high resistance state will be decreased due to the coulomb blocking effect. On the other hand, the ferroelectric po-larization still maintains at a good level. Eventually, the resistive switching (RS) on/off ratio can reach 106 by embedding 3 mol% Au NPs. Compared with the pure PCZT thin films, the resistance-variable switching ratio is improved by two orders of magnitude. In addition, multi-level data storage can be realized under different bias voltages. Our results provide a feasible way to achieve high-on/off-ratio ferroelectric memristors with multi-level data storage capabilities.