In situ TEM imaging of defect dynamics under electrical bias in resistive switching rutile-TiO2.

In this study, in situ electrical biasing was combined with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in order to study the formation and evolution of Wadsley defects and Magnéli phases during electrical biasing and resistive switching in titanium dioxide (TiO2). Resistive switching devices were fabricated from single-crystal rutile TiO2 substrates through focused ion beam milling and lift-out techniques. Defect evolution and phase transformations in rutile TiO2 were monitored by diffraction contrast imaging inside the TEM during electrical biasing. Reversible bipolar resistive switching behavior was observed in these single-crystal TiO2 devices. Biased induced reduction reactions created increased oxygen vacancy concentrations to such an extent that shear faults (Wadsley defects) and oxygen-deficient phases (Magnéli phases) formed over large volumes within the TiO2 TEM specimen. Nevertheless, the observed reversible formation/dissociation of Wadsley defects does not appear to correlate to resistive switching phenomena at these length scales. These defect zones were found to reversibly reconfigure in a manner consistent with charged oxygen vacancy migration responding to the applied bias polarity.

Pattern transfer with stabilized nanoparticle etch masks.

Self-assembled nanoparticle monolayer arrays are used as an etch mask for pattern transfer into Si and SiO(x) substrates. Crack formation within the array is prevented by electron beam curing to fix the nanoparticles to the substrate, followed by a brief oxygen plasma to remove excess carbon. This leaves a dot array of nanoparticle cores with a minimum gap of 2 nm. Deposition and liftoff can transform the dot array mask into an antidot mask, where the gap is determined by the nanoparticle core diameter. Reactive ion etching is used to transfer the dot and antidot patterns into the substrate. The effect of the gap size on the etching rate is modeled and compared with the experimental results.

Identifying threading dislocations in GaN films and substrates by electron channelling.

Electron channelling contrast imaging of threading dislocations in GaN (0002) substrates and epitaxial films has been demonstrated using a conventional polepiece-mounted backscatter detector in a commercial scanning electron microscope. The influence of accelerating voltage and diffraction vector on contrast features denoting specific threading dislocation types has been studied. As confirmed by coordinated transmission electron microscopy analysis, electron channelling contrast imaging contrast features for edge-type threading dislocations are spatially smaller than mixed-type threading dislocations in GaN. This ability to delineate GaN edge threading dislocations from mixed type was also confirmed by defect-selective etch processing using molten MgO/KOH. This study validates electron channelling contrast imaging as a nondestructive and widely accessible method for spatially mapping and identifying dislocations in GaN with wider applicability for other single-crystal materials.

Transient Thermometry and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis of Filamentary Resistive Switches.

We present data on the filament size and temperature distribution in Hf0.82Al0.18Ox-based Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) devices obtained by transient thermometry and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The thermometry shows that the temperature of the nonvolatile conducting filament can reach temperatures as high as 1600 K at the onset of RESET at voltage of 0.8 V and power of 40 µW. The size of the filament was estimated at about 1 nm in diameter. Hot filament increases the temperature of the surrounding high resistivity oxide, causing it to conduct and carry a significant fraction of the total current. The current spreading results in slowing down the filament temperature increase at higher power. The results of thermometry have been corroborated by HRTEM analysis of the as-fabricated and switched RRAM devices. The functional HfAlOx layer in as-fabricated devices is amorphous. In devices that were switched, we detected a small crystalline region of 10-15 nm in size. The crystallization temperature of the HfAlOx was determined to be 850 K in an independent annealing experiment. The size of the crystalline region agrees with thermal modeling based on the thermometry data. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (TEM) coordinated with electron energy loss spectroscopy could not detect changes in the chemical makeup of the filament.