Electroforming-Free Resistive Switching In Yttrium Manganite Thin Films By Cationic Substitution

We report unipolar resistive switching in polycrystalline, hexagonal yttrium manganite thin films grown on unpatterned Pt metal coated SiO2/Si substrates with circular Al top electrodes. Electroforming-free or electroforming-based resistive switching is observed, depending on the chemical composition (Y1Mn1O3, Y0.95Mn1.05O3, Y1Mn0.99Ti0.01O3, and Y0.94Mn1.05Ti0.01O3). The number of loading cycles measured at room temperature for samples with Y1Mn1O3 and Y0.95Mn1.05O3 composition is larger than 10(3). The dominant conduction mechanism of the metal-insulator-metal structures between 295K and 373K in the high resistance state is space charge limited conduction and in the low resistance state is ohmic conduction. Activation energies in Ohm's law region in the high resistance state are calculated from the Arrhenius equation and are evaluated to be 0.39 +/- 0.01eV (Y1Mn1O3), 0.43 +/- 0.01eV (Y0.95Mn1.05O3), 0.34 +/- 0.01eV (Y1Mn0.99Ti0.01O3), and 0.38 +/- 0.02eV (Y0.94Mn1.05Ti0.01O3). Published under license by AIP Publishing.