Epitaxial CeO₂ thin films for a mechanism study of resistive random access memory (ReRAM)

A thin epitaxial CeO₂ film was grown on a Cu(111) single crystal in order to investigate the mechanism of resistive memory/switching devices with an ultimately thin high-k dielectric film. A small amount of Pt was deposited on the CeO₂ film and the Pt/CeO₂/Cu structure was characterized by conductive atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that the grown epitaxial CeO₂ film was fully oxidized, i.e., the valence of Ce atoms in the film was completely Ce4+. However, after the deposition of a small amount of Pt, it was revealed that Ce atoms were partially reduced to Ce³⁺ in full thickness of the film. The Pt/CeO₂/Cu structure did not show switching behavior in resistance. The observed reduction of CeO₂ film is considered to be responsible to the non-switching behavior. The thermodynamics of the reduction of the CeO₂ film and the kinetics of oxygen diffusion in the reduced CeO₂ film are discussed.