Total ionizing dose and displacement damage effects on TaOx memristive memories

The effects of ionizing radiation and displacement damage on TaO
x
memristors are evaluated. Devices show little response to 10 keV x-rays up to 10 Mrad(Si). Co
⁶⁰
gamma rays and 4.5 MeV protons did not change the resistances significantly at levels up to 2.5 Mrad(Si) and 5 Mrad(Si) respectively. 105 MeV and 480 MeV protons cause switching of the memristors from high to low resistance states in some cases, but do not exhibit a consistent degradation. 800 keV silicon ions are observed to cause resistance degradation, with an inverse dependence of resistance on oxygen vacancy density. Variation between different devices appears to be a key factor in determining the electrical response resulting from irradiation. The proposed degradation mechanism likely involves the creation of oxygen vacancies, but a better fundamental understanding of switching is needed before a definitive understanding of radiation degradation can be achieved.