Confining vertical conducting filament for reliable resistive switching by using a Au-probe tip as the top electrode for epitaxial brownmillerite oxide memristive device.

We had discovered novel resistance switching phenomena in SrCoO epitaxial thin films. We have interpreted the results in terms of the topotactic phase transformation between their insulating brownmillerite phase and the conducting perovskite phase and the existence of a rather vertical conducting filament due to its inherent layered structure. However, the rough interface observed between the SrCoO and the Au top electrode (area ~10000 μm) was assumed to result in the observed fluctuation in key switching parameters. In order to verify the effect of rough interface on the switching performance in the SrCoO device, in this work, we studied the resistive switching properties of a SrCoO device by placing a Au-coated tip (end area ~0.5 μm) directly on the film surface as the top electrode. The resulting device displayed much improved endurance and showed high uniformity in key switching parameters as compared to the device having a large top electrode area. A simulation result confirmed that the Au-coated tip provides a local confinement of the electrical field, resulting in confinement of oxygen ion distribution and therefore localization of the conducting filament. By minimizing other free and uncontrollable parameters, the designed experiment here provides the most direct and isolated evidence that the rough interface between electrode and ReRAM matrix is detrimental for the reproducibility of resistivity switching phenomena.