Comprehensive analysis of electro thermally driven nanoscale insulator–metal transition SmNiO3-based selector for cross-point memory array

To implement a cross-point memory array successfully, it is highly required to develop nonlinear selector devices. Insulator–metal transition (IMT) devices are promising candidates for selector applications. Although IMT characteristics of SmNiO 3 with a high transition temperature of 130 °C have already been reported, the film deposition conditions following high-pressure oxygen annealing at high temperatures are not practical for high-density memory applications. In this report, we propose a simple electrical method to form a localized IMT SmNiO 3 region in a sputter-deposited SmNiO x film. The nanoscale IMT device formed by the electro thermal effect shows promising selector characteristics such as switching uniformity, switching endurance (>10 5 cycles), and high temperature stability. The feasibility of good selector characteristics is also investigated by serially connecting the selector device (SmNiO 3 IMT) to a Ta/Ta 2 O 5 /Pt resistive random access memory (ReRAM) device.