Multifunctional electrode

摘要

A nonvolatile memory element is disclosed comprising a first electrode, a near-stoichiometric metal oxide memory layer having bistable resistance, and a second electrode in contact with the near-stoichiometric metal oxide memory layer. At least one electrode is a resistive electrode comprising a sub-stoichiometric transition metal nitride or oxynitride, and has a resistivity between 0.1 and 10 Ωcm. The resistive electrode provides the functionality of an embedded current-limiting resistor and also serves as a source and sink of oxygen vacancies for setting and resetting the resistance state of the metal oxide layer. Novel fabrication methods for the second electrode are also disclosed.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
forming a first layer by reactive sputtering in an atmosphere containing a source of nitrogen; wherein process conditions during the reactive sputtering comprises one of
a pressure between about 10 and 50 mTorr,a substrate bias more than 120% of a value expected to minimize resistivity, ora sputtering angle between about 55 and 85 degrees; and wherein the first layer comprises a sub-stoichiometric metal nitride or a sub-stoichiometric metal oxynitride having a resistivity between about 0.1 and 10 ohm-cm.