Experimental evidence of the quantum point contact theory in the conduction mechanism of bipolar HfO₂-based resistive random access memories

The quantum point contact (QPC) model for dielectric breakdown is used to explain the electron transport mechanism in HfO₂-based resistive random access memories (ReRAM) with TiN(30 nm)\HfO₂(5 nm)\Hf(10 nm)\TiN(30 nm) stacks. Based on experimental I-V characteristics of bipolar HfO₂-based ReRAM, we extracted QPC model parameters related to the conduction mechanism in several devices in order to make a statistical study. In addition, we investigated the temperature effect on the conduction mechanism and compared it with the QPC model. Based on these experimental results, we show that the QPC model agrees well with the conduction behavior of HfO ₂-based ReRAM memory cells.