Hydrogen doping in HfO2 resistance change random access memory

The structures and energies of hydrogen-doped monoclinic hafnium dioxide were calculated using density-functional theory. The electronic interactions are described within the LDA + U formalism, where on-site Coulomb corrections are applied to the 5d orbital electrons of Hf atoms and 2p orbital electrons of the O atoms. The effects of charge state, defect-defect interactions, and hydrogenation are investigated and compared with experiment. It is found that hydrogenation of HfO2 resistance-change random access memory devices energetically stabilizes the formation of oxygen vacancies and conductive vacancy filaments through multiple mechanisms, leading to improved switching characteristic and device yield.