To achieve uniform switching behavior, the Selleck MK-8776 current flowing in the switching layer should be controlled. Therefore, the insertion of additional layers, such as filament formation control layers, has been investigated for the control of current flow. It is well known that internal resistors or external resistors can induce reliable filament formation with the controlled current flowing through serially connected resistors [14, 15]. When compared
to linear resistors, the tunnel barrier can be considered as a non-linear resistor. The resistance of this multi-layer tunnel barrier can vary with the applied bias owing to tunnel barrier thickness modification. The resistance of the tunnel barrier is very high at the DT-controlled bias level, whereas MEK162 the resistance of the tunnel barrier is very low at the FNT-controlled bias level. The resistance of a typical ReRAM can be determined by the filament growth rate. Thus, the tunnel-barrier-integrated ReRAM can be considered
to comprise a serially connected switching layer resistance (RHfO2) and tunnel barrier resistance (RTunnel barrier). RHfO2 can be changed to RHRS, an intermediate resistance state (RIRS), and RLRS with filament growth thickness. The RHfO2 value decreases with filament growth. In the case of the multi-layer tunnel barrier, the resistances learn more can be considered as a DT resistance (RDT) and FNT resistance (RFNT) at VLow and VHigh, respectively. Accordingly, the dominant Methocarbamol layer changes with the resistance values. Figure 4 compares the DC I-V curves of the multi-layer tunnel barrier and linear ReRAM. At VLow, the operating current of the tunnel barrier is much lower than that of the ReRAM HRS. In contrast, the operating
current of the tunnel barrier is much higher than that of the ReRAM HRS at VHigh. Therefore, the tunnel barrier is dominant at VLow, and the ReRAM is dominant at VHigh in the ReRAM HRS. Figure 5 shows the concept of filament formation during the set operation of a linear ReRAM and the selector-less ReRAM. As shown in Figure 5c,d, most bias is applied to the tunnel barrier owing to RDT > RHRS at VLow. During the positive bias increase for filament formation, Vos are cohesive, and a partial filament is formed with the tunnel barrier controlled current until the dominant region changes (Figures 4 and 5c). Accordingly, the filament size may be relatively smaller than that of linear ReRAMs owing to the suppressed current flow. When less current flows along the device, smaller filament is formed. Therefore, partial filament formation is achieved with RDT (Figure 5c). Figure 4 Comparison of ReRAM (black) and tunnel barrier (blue) DC I-V curves. Figure 5 Concept of filament formation in general ReRAM (a, b) and the selector-less ReRAM (c, d). The partial filament state can be considered as an IRS, which is RLRS < RIRS < RHRS.