Nonvolatile unipolar resistive switching in YMnO₃ thin films

Due to its promising applications, resistive switching in oxides known also as a memristive effect, has gained a lot of attention both from scientists and industry. The multiferroic oxides as a switching medium offer a novel functionalities of the switching devices. Typically, the growth temperatures of such oxides are above 600°C and so far CMOS compatibility has not been achieved. As an example, the multiferroic YMnO₃ exhibits unipolar resistive switching [1]. However, its high crystallization temperature (above 750°C) imposes difficulties in preparation of thin films on metal-coated substrates. This work compares the results of electrical and structural characterization of YMnO₃ thin films grown on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition with two different approaches. In the first one, the polycrystalline YMnO₃ films are deposited at 800°C. In the second approach, amorphous films deposited at 400°C are crystallized by millisecond range flash lamp annealing. It is shown that the ultra short annealing allows the preparation of polycrystalline YMnO₃ films without deformation of the Pt/Ti electrode which exhibits improved endurance of resistive switching.