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Temperature driven crossover from abrupt thermal to gradual field driven RESET in single-layer HfO₂ RRAMs

Mamidala, Karthik Ram LU orcid ; Svanström, James ; Persson, Karl-Magnus LU and Wernersson, Lars-Erik LU (2026) In Applied Physics Letters 128(17).
Abstract
We investigate the temperature-dependent resistive switching behavior of single-layer ITO/HfO₂/TiN resistive random access memory devices down to 10K. Devices formed at room temperature exhibit abrupt, Joule-heating-assisted RESET transitions that evolve into gradual, field-driven processes upon cooling. We found that the RESET voltage increases steadily with decreasing temperature, while the memory window narrows yet remains above 10X at 10K, enabling clear separation of states in the cryogenic regime. Double-log I–V slope analysis reveals a crossover from thermally activated to field-driven conduction as the temperature is reduced, consistent with suppressed vacancy mobility and a reduced impact of Joule heating at low temperature.... (More)
We investigate the temperature-dependent resistive switching behavior of single-layer ITO/HfO₂/TiN resistive random access memory devices down to 10K. Devices formed at room temperature exhibit abrupt, Joule-heating-assisted RESET transitions that evolve into gradual, field-driven processes upon cooling. We found that the RESET voltage increases steadily with decreasing temperature, while the memory window narrows yet remains above 10X at 10K, enabling clear separation of states in the cryogenic regime. Double-log I–V slope analysis reveals a crossover from thermally activated to field-driven conduction as the temperature is reduced, consistent with suppressed vacancy mobility and a reduced impact of Joule heating at low temperature. Devices formed directly at 10K exhibit the same gradual switching behavior, and the RESET becomes increasingly abrupt upon reheating, confirming that the mechanism intrinsically depends on temperature. Although the memory window decreases at cryogenic temperatures, the stable and reproducible operation of this simple single-layer oxide stack highlights its potential for integration in cryogenic CMOS memory and neuromorphic systems. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cryogenic RRAM
in
Applied Physics Letters
volume
128
issue
17
article number
173501
pages
6 pages
publisher
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
external identifiers
  • scopus:105037181558
ISSN
0003-6951
DOI
10.1063/5.0313170
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e3d46f3e-6503-4a55-ac2c-d2ebd6c30561
date added to LUP
2026-04-27 11:19:52
date last changed
2026-06-08 07:55:27
@article{e3d46f3e-6503-4a55-ac2c-d2ebd6c30561,
  abstract     = {{We investigate the temperature-dependent resistive switching behavior of single-layer ITO/HfO₂/TiN resistive random access memory devices down to 10K. Devices formed at room temperature exhibit abrupt, Joule-heating-assisted RESET transitions that evolve into gradual, field-driven processes upon cooling. We found that the RESET voltage increases steadily with decreasing temperature, while the memory window narrows yet remains above 10X at 10K, enabling clear separation of states in the cryogenic regime. Double-log I–V slope analysis reveals a crossover from thermally activated to field-driven conduction as the temperature is reduced, consistent with suppressed vacancy mobility and a reduced impact of Joule heating at low temperature. Devices formed directly at 10K exhibit the same gradual switching behavior, and the RESET becomes increasingly abrupt upon reheating, confirming that the mechanism intrinsically depends on temperature. Although the memory window decreases at cryogenic temperatures, the stable and reproducible operation of this simple single-layer oxide stack highlights its potential for integration in cryogenic CMOS memory and neuromorphic systems.}},
  author       = {{Mamidala, Karthik Ram and Svanström, James and Persson, Karl-Magnus and Wernersson, Lars-Erik}},
  issn         = {{0003-6951}},
  keywords     = {{Cryogenic RRAM}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{17}},
  publisher    = {{American Institute of Physics (AIP)}},
  series       = {{Applied Physics Letters}},
  title        = {{Temperature driven crossover from abrupt thermal to gradual field driven RESET in single-layer HfO₂ RRAMs}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0313170}},
  doi          = {{10.1063/5.0313170}},
  volume       = {{128}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}