Resistive Switching Behavior of Titanium Oxynitride Fabricated Using a Thermal Nitridation Process

A titanium oxynitride (TiO
_x
N
_y
) resistive random-access memory (RRAM) with write-once-read-many-times (WORM) characteristics is proposed. The TiO
_x
N
_y
resistive switching (RS) layer with a thickness of 62 nm was fabricated using a thermal nitridation process of an evaporated Ti metal film. The residual Ti layer with a thickness of 8 nm is used as the bottom contact. The Al/TiO
_x
N
_y
/Ti/n
⁺
-Si RRAM shows a large memory window of 10
⁷
at a low read voltage of 0.2 V. Stable high-resistance state (HRS) and low-resistance state (LRS) are observed in the endurance test for 10
⁴
read cycles. High read-disturb immunity can be found for over 10
⁴
s. The energy band diagram, carrier conduction and the RS mechanisms of the RRAM are investigated.