Experimental Demonstration of CeO₂-Based Tunable Gated Memristor for RRAM Applications

This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of a cerium dioxide (CeO 2 )-based gated memristor with metal electrodes. The fabricated device exhibits memristive behavior, owing to the intrinsic oxygen vacancies originating from the utilized solution combustion method of synthesizing CeO 2 . By configuration of the biasing, this memristor can serve as either a conventional two-terminal (2T) memristor or a three-terminal (3T) gated memristor, offering the capability to adjust the set voltage ( V SET ). Electrical assessments affirm that this constructed memristor boasts an exceptionally high R OFF / R ON ratio (∼10 5 ) and a low V SET of 0.756 V. At a compliance current ( I CC ) of 20 mA, the device displays a remarkably low activation slope of 3.5 mV/decade. Additionally, it demonstrates outstanding cyclic stability, reproducibility, and data retention even after 10 5 cycles. In the three-terminal, or 3T, configuration, manipulation of the gate voltage can precisely control the V SET . We elucidate the operational theory of this gated memristor, focusing on electroformation. Numerical simulations illustrating the two-dimensional electric field profiles of the device support the findings from physical experiments, affirming the validity of the electroformation concept within the active layer. The ability to adjust V SET through the back gate bias enhances its utility in analog VLSI and data conversion. Furthermore, its impressive R OFF / R ON ratio positions it as an ideal candidate for resistive random access memory.