Investigation of resistive switching in bipolar TaOx-based resistive random access memory

Al/Ta
2
O
5
/Pt RRAM cell was successfully demonstrated with stable bipolar switching. Band alignment for the structure of Al/Ta
2
O
5
/Pt was obtained using high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to investigate resistance switching behavior. Hole barrier heights of Ta
2
O
5
on metals Pt and Al were extracted using core level and valence band spectra. The energy band alignments of Pt/TaO
x
and Al/TaO
x
were thus determined and correlated to conduction mechanisms governing SET and RESET processes of actual bipolar Pt/TaO
x
/Al devices.