Observation of Highly Nonlinear Resistive Switching of Al2O3/TiO2-x Memristors at Cryogenic Temperature (1.5 K)

TL;DR

This study demonstrates highly nonlinear resistive switching in Al2O3/TiO2-x memristors at cryogenic temperatures, revealing negative differential resistance effects and potential for selector-free cryogenic memory applications.

Contribution

First observation of resistive switching and negative differential resistance in Al2O3/TiO2-x memristors at temperatures as low as 1.5 K, highlighting their potential for cryogenic electronics.

Findings

Achieved resistive switching from 300 K to 1.5 K.

Observed negative differential resistance effects at cryogenic temperatures.

Extracted thermal activation energies indicating hopping conduction.

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the behavior of Al2O3/TiO2-x cross-point memristors in cryogenic environment. We report successful resistive switching of memristor devices from 300 K down to 1.5 K. The I-V curves exhibit negative differential resistance effects between 130 and 1.5 K, attributed to a metal-insulator transition (MIT) of the Ti4O7 conductive filament. The resulting highly nonlinear behavior is associated to a maximum ION/IOFF ratio of 84 at 1.5 K, paving the way to selector-free cryogenic passive crossbars. Finally, temperature-dependant thermal activation energies related to the conductance at low bias (20 mV) are extracted for memristors in low resistance state, suggesting hopping-type conduction mechanisms.