Effect of Ag doping on bipolar switching operation in molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) nanostructures for non-volatile memory

As an emerging technology, nanoscale non-volatile memory technology can be used for in-memory computing and neuromorphic computing. However, the deeper understanding of the charge transport and resistive switching mechanism in memristor devices are still needed to improve the device properties for practical application. Herein, we first synthesized the MoO3 nanorods and studied the structural properties by XRD, SEM and TEM. The elemental compositions were confirmed through EDX and XPS analysis. The resistive switching operation of Au/ MoO3/p-Si ReRAM device was examined and its conductive mechanism was analyzed by space-charge limited conduction theory. The changes of high resistive state to low resistive state and vice-versa in ReRAM device is owing to the movement of oxygen vacancies in MoO3 structure. For comparison, silver atoms were intercalated into MoO3 Nanostructures and device performance was also analyzed. The improved switching behavior of Ag doped Au/ MoO3/p-Si device is due to Ag doping effect in the formation of conducting paths in the MoO3 active material. The obtained results indicate the contribution of Ag atoms in conduction filament enhance the bipolar resistive switching performance. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.