Characteristics of the bipolar resistive switching behavior in memory device with Au/ZnO/ITO structure

In this work, reproducible and stable bipolar resistive switching behavior without the requirement of forming process is observed in the memory device with Au/ZnO/ITO structure. It shows a high R-on/R-o(ff) ratio, where R-on and R-off are the resistance at low resistance state (LRS) and high resistance state (HRS), respectively. The dominated transport mechanisms for LRS and HRS are related to space charge limited current and Ohmic behavior, respectively. This bipolar resistive behavior is attributed to the formation and rupture of conducing filaments which are constructed with oxygen vacancies. The Au/ZnO/ITO device discussed in this work shows huge potential applications in the next generation nonvolatile memory field.