Resistive, Switching Characteristics of Sol-Gel Zinc Oxide Films for Flexible Memory Applications

Abstract

Unipolar resistive switching devices are investigated for nonvolatile memory applications in a metal-insulator-metal structure in which the insulator layer is based on sol-gel-derived zinc oxide (ZnO) films prepared by a simple spin-coating process followed by thermal annealing. Fast programming (<= 50 ns) and a high off-to-on resistance ratio (> 10(4)) is demonstrated. The influences on the switching behaviors according to the crystallinity of the ZnO films are studied as a function of the annealing temperature. In addition, the devices are fabricated on a flexible plastic substrate and exhibit excellent durability upon repeated bending tests, demonstrating their potential for flexible low-cost memory devices.