Heteroepitaxial growth of Nb-doped SrTiO3 films on Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition for resistance memory applications

Epitaxial Nb-doped SrTiO3 films grown on Si substrates for nonvolatile resistance memory applications were investigated. With a TiN buffer layer, a high-quality epitaxial Nb-doped SrTiO3 film was grown on the Si substrate, which was confirmed through x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Compared with a control sample grown on a silicon substrate without a TiN buffer layer, the epitaxial Nb-doped SrTiO3 samples with the TiN buffer layer show the good resistance memory characteristics of a high resistance ratio, good retention characteristics, and uniformity. In terms of process compatibility with the standard silicon process, epitaxial Nb-doped SrTiO3 samples with a TiN buffer layer have the potential for use in future nonvolatile resistance memory applications.