Improved resistive switching performance and realized electric control of exchange bias in a NiO/HfO 2 bilayer structure.

The fluctuation of switching parameters is unavoidable in conductive filaments (CFs)-type resistive switching (RS) devices, which restricts the application in resistive random-access memory. Here, we employed an uninsulated antiferromagnetic (AFM) NiO layer adhered to a well-insulating HfO 2 layer to effectively suppress the RS fluctuation by achieving forming-free, narrower set voltage distribution, a more stable on/off ratio, and better endurance in comparison with single-HfO 2 -layer based RS devices. The conduction scaling behavior indicates that the NiO/HfO 2 bilayer has a smaller scale parameter S 0 (lateral dimension of the bottleneck for the CFs). Besides this, considering some preexisting conductive paths in the NiO layer, the electric fields and the formation/rupture of CFs can be highly localized, leading to reduced switching fluctuation and improved RS performance in the NiO/HfO 2 -based RS devices. Moreover, asymmetric I - V curves measured in a high resistance state (HRS) in positively and negatively biased regions and the electric modulation of exchange bias (EB) arising from the Co-NiO interfacial coupling are favorable for revealing the inherent mechanism for RS. The coexistence of RS and EB is also useful to the design of novel multifunctional memory devices.