High-performance ferroelectric nonvolatile memory based on Gd-and Ni-codoped BiFeO3 films

Abstract

BiFeO3 (BFO), Bi0.92Gd0.08FeO3 (BGFO) and Bi0.92Gd0.08Fe0.95Ni0.05O3 (BGFNO) films are epitaxially grown on 0.7 wt% Nb-SrTiO3 (NSTO) substrates. The strong ferroelectric property in BGFNO film is confirmed by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) and polarization versus voltage (P-V) measurement. It is also found that the Au/BGFNO/NSTO devices possess a ferroelectric resistance switching (RS) effect. Gd- and Ni-codoped BiFeO3 is found to strongly enhance the resistance on/off ratio. A resistance on/off ratio as large as 3 × 106 is achieved with an applied pulse voltage of −8 V and +4 V. In addition, the devices exhibit excellent retention and anti-fatigue characteristics. The memristor behavior of Au/BGFNO/NSTO is attributed to the switching of polarization states, which modulate the width and height of the barrier at the BGFNO/NSTO interface. The excellent resistive switching properties in Au/BGFNO/NSTO devices indicate the promising application in nonvolatile memory.