Fabrication of memristors with localized nanofilament

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Project Description

Memristors have become a strategic electronic device for the construction of emerging non-volatile memories and artificial neural networks. It is known that some memristors switch their electrical conductance by forming and disrupting a conductive nanofilament in a dielectric film. However, their switching mechanism is still not understood. In this project, we will develop a methodology to impose the location where the conductive filament forms in a memristor. This will allow us to control better the electrical properties of the memristors (set and reset voltages) and understand the resistive swithing mechanism.

Program - Materials Science & Engineering

Division - Physical Sciences and Engineering

Faculty Lab Link - https://www.kaust.edu.sa/en/study/faculty/mario-lanza

Field of Study - Resistive switching

About the
Researcher

Mario Lanza

Associate Professor, Material Science and Engineering

Professor Lanza's research focuses on the integration of two-dimensional (2D) materials in solid-state nano/micro-electronic devices and circuits, with special emphasis on memristive crossbar arrays and their use to build artificial neural networks. He puts special effort on using fabrication methods compatible with the industry, and to characterize the yield and variability of large amounts of devices in a statistical manner. He is one of the world leaders on the study of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), as well as many other ultra-thin dielectrics for electronic devices (SiO2, HfO2, Al2O3). He is famous for his expertise on nanoelectronic characterization of multiple materials and devices using scanning probe microscopy (SPM).

Desired Project Deliverables

Optical microscope and SEM images of the memristive devices Current versus voltage plots showing the electrical properties of the devices