Ni-Containing Electrodes for Compact Integration of Resistive Random Access Memory With CMOS

Different HfO
x
-based resistive random access memory stacks with Ni-containing electrodes, including NiSi and Ni(Ge
_1-x
Si
_x
), which can be easily formed on the source/drain of a transistor, are systematically investigated in this letter. The involvement of Ni (or NiO
x
formed) at the interface has been found very beneficial to good switching properties. Moreover, RESET current can be effectively reduced for silicide electrodes compared to the
n
⁺
-Si case, attributed to the formation of a thicker interfacial layer involving NiO
_x
and/or GeO
_x
. In addition, a well-controlled interfacial layer is believed to be very helpful for the switching uniformity improvement. All these observations suggest the prospect of a compact 1T-1R integration scheme with Ni-containing electrodes.