Investigation into the Memristor Effect in Nanocrystalline ZnO Films

Abstract

The results of experimental investigations into the memristor effect and influence of annealing modes on the electrical properties of nanocrystalline zinc-oxide films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition are presented. The possibility of fabricating a nanocrystalline zinc-oxide film by pulsed laser deposition in a broad range of electrical (resistivity from 1.44 × 10^–5 to 8.06 × 10^–1 Ω cm) and morphological (roughness from 0.43 ± 0.32 to 6.36 ± 0.38 nm) parameters due to the use of post-growth annealing in oxygen (pressure 10^–1 and 10^–3 Torr, temperature 300 and 800°C, and duration from 1 to 10 h) is presented. It is shown that a nanocrystalline zinc-oxide film 58 ± 2 nm in thickness manifests a stable memristor effect slightly dependent on its morphology—applying a voltage of –2.5 and +4 V leads to switching between states with the resistance 3.3 ± 1.1 × 10⁹ and 8.1 ± 3.4 × 10⁷ Ω, respectively. These results can be used when developing designs and production processes of resistive random-access memory (RRAM) units based on the memristor effect as well as optoelectronics, microelectronics, and nanoelectronics and nanosystem devices.