The improvement of stable resistive switching in Al/ZnO/Al heterostructures by integration of amorphous carbon layers.

This study investigates the effects of inserting amorphous carbon (a-C) layers between the Al electrode layer and the ZnO insulator layer in Al/ZnO/Al heterostructures on resistive switching (RS) therein. The inserted a-C layers can play an important role to stabilize RS behavior for random access memory performance. The complex impedance spectra of Al/ZnO/Al devices with and without a-C inserted layers examined to probe the characteristics of their conducting mechanism. The formation of meta-stable a-CO x after forming process caused repeatable redox reaction at interfaces, critically affecting RS behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]