Charge transport and resistive switching in a 2D hybrid interface

doi:10.1016/j.materresbull.2020.111195

Materials Research Bulletin

Volume 139, July 2021, 111195

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.materresbull.2020.111195 Get rights and content

Highlights

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We investigated the structural, transport and resistive switching (RS) behaviour of $_{3}$ La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ and rGO nancomposites.
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Very stable and robust bipolar RS behaviour was observed with additional tunability obtained through the variation in the rGO concentration in the structure.
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The presence of a T_MIT is clearly observed with a lowering of the transition temperature on increase in the rGO content.
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Both the effects can be attributed to the oxygen vacancy generation and filament formation as confirmed from the XPS and HRTEM measurements.
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The combined attributes of easy fabrication route and robust switching behaviour of nanocomposite makes it a superior candidate for future non-volatile memory design and oxide electronics.

Abstract

With the recent surge of emerging memory technologies, the demand for storage capacities in various applications is more than ever. Oxide material based memory elements are promising candidates for designing future non-volatile storage architectures. In this work, we investigated the structural, transport and resistive switching (RS) behaviour of a novel hybrid structure made of calcium doped LaMnO₃ (LCMO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Very stable and robust bipolar RS behaviour was observed with additional tunability obtained through the variation in the rGO concentration in the structure. The presence of a metal to insulator transition is clearly observed with a lowering of the transition temperature on increase in the rGO content. Both the effects can be attributed to the oxygen vacancy generation and filament formation as confirmed from the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) measurements. The combined attributes of easy fabrication route, robust switching behaviour and environmental stability of the present system makes it a superior candidate for future non-volatile memory design and oxide electronics.

Graphical abstract

Introduction

The distinct changes in the resistance state of a system under the influence of an external electric field gives rise to resistive switching (RS) phenomenon which is useful for non-volatile memory application. In the recent times, RS phenomenon has received considerable attention due to its non-volatile nature, which can have potential application for the fabrication of next-generation resistance random access memory (RRAM) devices [1], [2], [3]. The quest for best possible materials offering superior RS behaviour also demands better scaling compatibility, swift switching response and compatibility towards higher-level integration. The scaling from macro to micro-scale in size in polymers led to a decrease in the threshold switching voltage (V $_{th}$ ) as well as effective electric field [4]. Among the popular materials, binary oxides like NiO $_{x}$ [5], TiO $_{x}$ [6], CuO $_{x}$ [7], ZnO $_{x}$ [8] are used for RS application, while the performances with higher-order oxides were found to be impacted by the random oxygen vacancies [9], [10], [11]. Oxygen vacancies play an important role in initiating the RS behaviour in oxide systems [12], [13], [14]. Therefore, creating oxygen vacancies in a system is useful to enhance the performance of any RS material. Random distribution of oxygen vacancies leads to a degradation in the performance of RS devices. Therefore, controlling the oxygen vacancies in a specific direction is a way forward to trigger the characteristic features of RS devices.

Among several oxides materials, perovskite system has the advantage that oxygen vacancies can be easily induced into the system by synthesis process itself. To improve the RS performance by engineering the oxygen vacancies, hybrid structures made of 2D materials and perovskite manganite materials could offer improved functionality. Such a system can offer cheap and easy route of fabrication and combined attributes of the individual constituents. In this work, we have investigated a novel hybrid structure made of calcium doped LaMnO $_{3}$ (LCMO) system and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). LCMO is an important member of the manganite family which offers interesting physical properties like charge/orbital ordering driven colossal magnetoresistance, existence of ferromagnetic spin-wave states and magneto caloric effect, while rGO, a derivative of graphene family attracted significant attention for exciting mechanical and electronic properties. It has been observed in this work that the introduction of a small quantity of rGO within the LCMO not only changes its electronic properties, but also leads to significant RS behaviour tunable with its concentration. In this report, we have investigated the detailed investigation of the structural, transport, RS behaviour of the family of materials and tried to find the origin of the switching process based on oxygen vacancy migration and further supported through the micro-structural observations.

Section snippets

Experimental

The standard solid-state reaction route was used to synthesise the polycrystalline La $_{0.7}$ Ca $_{0.3}$ MnO $_{3}$ (LCMO) sample. The stoichiometric amount of La $_{2}$ O $_{3}$ , CaO and Mn $_{2}$ O $_{3}$ (source: Sigma Aldrich, purity no lesser than 99.9%) were grounded and mixed thoroughly in a volatile liquid medium for 5 h. Further, the resultant mixture was calcined in a muffle furnace at 1200  $°$ C for 12 h in an alumina crucible while maintaining the same heating and cooling rate ( $\sim$ 3  $°$ C/min). In order to make a homogeneous mixture,

Results and discussion

The diffraction pattern for the (1-x)La $_{0.7}$ Ca $_{0.3}$ MnO $_{3}$ .(x)rGO nanocomposite samples with x = 0.000, 0.001, 0.002 and 0.005 is shown in Fig. 1(a). The diffraction peak corresponding to $2 θ = 32.88 °$ depicts the characteristics peak of LCMO and is in agreement with the ICDD File no. 01-071-5293. The diffraction peak due to rGO is not prominent for lower rGO concentration in the nanocomposites, however, the intensity corresponding to it increases with the increasing rGO concentration. The inset of Fig. 1

Conclusion

In this work, the synthesis and characterisation of a novel hybrid system with structure $(1 - x)$ La $_{0.7}$ Ca $_{0.3}$ MnO $_{3}$ . $(x)$ rGO is demonstrated. The structural characterisation confirms the presence of the constituent phases with large crystallite size of LCMO confirming its crystallinity. The I–V curve of LCMO shows linear nature and retraces its path when the voltage is swept in the opposite direction. However, in the presence of rGO, a hysteresis nature was observed, which is a signature of the

Author statement

Karuna Kumari: Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing, Visualization

Ashutosh Kumar: Investigation

Ajay D. Thakur: Supervision, Writing – Review & Editing

S.J. Ray: Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Writing – Review & Editing, Conceptualization

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Acknowledgement

We sincerely acknowledge the financial support received through DST-INSPIRE Grant (No. DST/INSPIRE/04/2015/003087), DST-ECR Grant (Project Reference No. ECR/2017/002223), DST-CRG Grant (No. CRG/2019/003289), and UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research (No. CSR-IC/CRS-263/2017-18/1344).

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View full text

Charge transport and resistive switching in a 2D hybrid interface

Highlights

Abstract

Graphical abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Experimental

Results and discussion

Conclusion

Author statement

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgement

Nanoscale Res. Lett.

J. Alloys Compd.

Appl. Phys. A

Int. J. Electrochem. Sci.

J. Alloys Compd.

Carbon

Solid State Commun.

Mater. Today

Ceram. Int.

Flexible resistive switching memory device based on graphene oxide

IEEE Electron Device Lett.

Multilevel resistive switching in planar graphene/SiO2 nanogap structures

ACS Nano

Organic and hybrid resistive switching materials and devices

Chem. Soc. Rev.

Reproducible resistance switching in polycrystalline NiO films

Appl. Phys. Lett.

Resistive switching mechanism of TiO2 thin films grown by atomic-layer deposition

J. Appl. Phys.

Flexible resistive switching memory with a Ni/CuOx/Ni structure using an electrochemical deposition process

Nanotechnology

Modified resistive switching behavior of ZrO2 memory films based on the interface layer formed by using ti top electrode

J. Appl. Phys.

Bipolar resistance switching property of Al-Ag/La0.7Ca0.3MnO3/Pt sandwiches

J. Ceram. Soc. Jpn.

Colossal electroresistance of a Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 thin film at room temperature

Phys. Rev. B

Evidence for an oxygen diffusion model for the electric pulse induced resistance change effect in transition-metal oxides

Phys. Rev. Lett.

Role of oxygen vacancies at the TiO2/HfO2 interface in flexible oxide-based resistive switching memory

Adv. Electron. Mater.

Raman scattering study of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/SrTiO3 multilayers

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter

Raman spectroscopy of graphene-based materials and its applications in related devices

Chem. Soc. Rev.

Interpretation of Raman spectra of disordered and amorphous carbon

Phys. Rev. B

XPS investigation of Mn valence in lanthanum manganite thin films under variation of oxygen content

Phys. Rev. B

Multilevel resistive switching in planar graphene/SiO₂ nanogap structures

Resistive switching mechanism of TiO₂ thin films grown by atomic-layer deposition

Flexible resistive switching memory with a Ni/CuO_x/Ni structure using an electrochemical deposition process

Modified resistive switching behavior of ZrO₂ memory films based on the interface layer formed by using ti top electrode

Bipolar resistance switching property of Al-Ag/La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃/Pt sandwiches

Colossal electroresistance of a Pr_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ thin film at room temperature

Role of oxygen vacancies at the TiO₂/HfO₂ interface in flexible oxide-based resistive switching memory

Raman scattering study of La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃/SrTiO₃ multilayers