Control of conducting filaments in TiO₂ films by a thin interfacial conducting oxide layer at the cathode

The influences of the conducting oxide layer and phases of TiO₂ on the electroforming behavior of TiO₂ films on Ru were studied for unipolar resistive switching. The thin RuO₂ layer makes the conducting filaments (CF) too strong due to a limited oxygen supply and accompanying high power consumption. When the oxygen supply was too high (TiO₂ film on thick RuO₂), CF formation was essentially disturbed and no switching occurs. The phase of TiO₂ does not have any relevance to the resistance switching. Fluent and uniform switching was achieved by spatially confining the CF to a local area.