Forming-free unipolar resistive switching behavior with conical conducting filaments in LaVO 4 thin films

LaVO 4 thin films have been deposited on Pt / Ti /SiO 2 /Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition in order to explore the resistive switching (RS) behavior of the Au/LaVO 4 /Pt devices. It is found that the as-prepared Au/LaVO 4 /Pt devices stay in the low resistance state (LRS) and no electroforming process (forming-free) is needed to trigger fresh devices for the subsequent RS. Furthermore, the devices show excellent switching parameters such as a reproducible switching effect, a high resistance ratio of ∼10 4 between the LRS and high resistance state (HRS), good endurance and retention characteristics, and non-overlapping switching voltages. The dominant conduction mechanisms are Ohmic conduction in the LRS and the lower voltage region of the HRS, and Poole–Frenkel emission in the higher voltage region of the HRS. The combination of temperature dependence of resistance, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and model analysis suggests that the forming-free unipolar RS behavior can be explained by the formation and rupture of conical conducting filaments formed out of oxygen vacancies. These results may be important for practical application in nonvolatile resistive switching memory.