Improved Resistance Switching Stability in Fe-Doped ZnO Thin Films Through Pulsed Magnetic Field Annealing.

Five percent of Fe-doped ZnO (ZnO:Fe) thin films were deposited on Pt/TiO/SiO/Si substrates by a spin-coating method. The films were annealed without (ZnO:Fe-0T) and with a pulsed magnetic field of 4 T (ZnO:Fe-4TP) to investigate the magnetic annealing effect on the resistance switching (RS) behavior of the Pt/ZnO:Fe/Pt structures. Compared with the ZnO:Fe-0T film, the ZnO:Fe-4TP film showed improved RS performance regarding the stability of the set voltage and the resistance of the high resistance state. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses revealed that the ZnO:Fe-4TP film contains more uniform grains and a higher density of oxygen vacancies, which promote the easier formation of conducting filaments along similar paths and the stability of switching parameters. These results suggest that external magnetic fields can be used to prepare magnetic oxide thin films with improved resistance switching performance for memory device applications.