Utilizing Sub-5 nm sidewall electrode technology for atomic-scale resistive memory fabrication

A sidewall electrode technology was successfully developed for the first time in this study, improving the understanding of the working mechanism in an ultra small, functional HfO
₂
-based resistive random access memory (RRAM) device (<; 1 × 3 nm
²
). This technology exhibits potential for application in atomic-scale memories. The 1 × 3 nm
²
RRAM device exhibited an excellent performance, featuring a high endurance of more than 10
⁴
cycles, a large on/off verified window (>100), and reasonable reliability (stress time > 10
³
s, 2 × 10
⁴
h at 250 °C). Furthermore, the 1 × 3 nm
²
RRAM device exhibited distinctive unipolar behavior when a high voltage and rapid switching operation (7 V, 50 ns) were applied, and a switching mechanism model is proposed.