Engineered high endurance in WO 3 -based resistive switching devices via a guided filament approach
- Ziyi Yuan
- Babak Bakhit
- Yi-Xuan Liu
- Zhuotong Sun
- Giulio I. Lampronti
- Xinjuan Li
- Simon M. Fairclough
- Benson K. Tsai
- Abhijeet Choudhury
- Caterina Ducati
- Haiyan Wang
- Markus Hellenbrand
- Judith L. MacManus-Driscoll
2025-05-16
Resistive switching devices are promising candidates for the next generation of nonvolatile memory and neuromorphic computing applications. Despite the advantages in retention and on/off ratio, filamentary-based memristors still suffer from challenges, particularly endurance (flash being a benchmark system showing 10 4 to 10 6 cycles) and uniformity. Here, we use WO 3 as a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor–compatible switching oxide and demonstrate a proof-of-concept materials design approach to enhance endurance and device-to-device uniformity in WO 3 -based memristive devices while preserving other performance metrics. These devices show stable resistive switching behavior with >10 6 cycles, >10 5 -second retention, >10 on/off ratio, and good device-to-device uniformity, without using current compliance. All these metrics are achieved using a one-step pulsed laser deposition process to create self-assembled nanocomposite thin films that have regular guided filaments of ≈100-nanometer pitch, preformed between WO 3 grains and interspersed smaller Ce 2 O 3 grains.