Improvement mechanism of resistance random access memory with supercritical CO2 fluid treatment

Abstract We demonstrated that the supercritical CO 2 fluid treatment was a new concept to efficiently reduce the operation current of resistance random access memory. The dangling bonds of tin-doped silicon oxide (Sn:SiO x ) thin film were passivated by the hydration–dehydration reaction through supercritical CO 2 fluid treatment, which was verified by the XPS and FTIR analyses. The current conduction mechanism of low resistance state in post-treated Sn:SiO x thin film was transferred to hopping conduction from Ohmic conduction. Furthermore, the current conduction mechanism of high resistance state in the memory device was transferred to Schottky emission from Frenkel–Poole conduction. The phenomena were attributed to the discontinuous metal filament formed by hydration–dehydration reaction in Sn:SiO x thin film through supercritical fluid treatment. Finally, a reaction model was proposed to explain the mechanism of current reduction in Sn:SiO x thin film with supercritical CO 2 fluid treatment.