Hybrid Tuning of Sub‐Filaments to Improve Analog Switching Performance in Memristive Devices

Abstract

Memristive devices are promising candidates for analog computing applications such as neuromorphic computation. Larger dynamic ranges and more sufficient multilevel states can enable the significant development of memristor‐based utilizations. Herein, a method to improve the analog switching performance of memristors through a hybrid tuning (coarse and fine tuning) of two sub‐filaments is demonstrated. The creation of sub‐filaments inside the dielectric switching layer is realized by deploying Pt metal islands in the switching layer. Given the different material stack configurations of the two sub‐filaments, they exhibit different switching properties to play the roles of coarse and fine tuning respectively in the memristor. Based on the above mechanism, a Pt/Ta/Al2O3/Pt island/Al2O3‐x/TiOy/Al2O3‐x/Pt memristor is proposed and fabricated. Through the hybrid tuning of two sub‐filaments, a combined dynamic range of 600 Ω to 50 kΩ is achieved. Compared to the reference Pt/Ta/Al2O3/Pt memristors (dynamic range: 600 Ω to 8 kΩ), both dynamic range and multilevel resistance states are increased significantly. Meanwhile, the energy efficiency is improved because the resistance of tunable states can be set to larger values. Furthermore, this mechanism can be incorporated into various existing memristors to improve their dynamic range and multilevel states, which extensively enriches the applications of memristors.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 14, 2023
Source ID
10.1002/admt.202300109

Entities

People

  • Buyun Chen
  • Deming Meng
  • Hao Yang
  • Mark Barnell
  • Pan Hu
  • Qing Wu
  • Stephen B Cronin
  • Sushmit Hossain
  • Tse‐hsien Ou
  • Wei Wu
  • Yudi Shi
  • Yunxiang Wang
  • Zerui Liu
  • Zhi Cai

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity
  • Rome Laboratory
  • University of Southern California

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science
  • Physics

Readers

  • Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design