Total-Ionizing-Dose Response of Nb2O5-Based MIM Diodes for Neuromorphic Computing Applications

Nb
₂
O
₅
-based metal–insulator–metal (MIM) diodes are ideal for neuromorphic computing applications because they exhibit desirable rectification, hysteresis, and capacitance characteristics without electroforming. We employ capacitance-frequency measurements to evaluate the total-ionizing-dose res- ponse of these devices to avoid measurement-induced disturbance of trap distributions caused by typical gate-voltage sweeping methods. Power-law dependences are observed for the low-frequency capacitance and conductance, consistent with hopping conduction of carriers through the oxides. Despite their high oxygen-vacancy densities, the Nb
₂
O
₅
-based MIM diodes are radiation tolerant up to at least Mrad(SiO
₂
) doses.