Silicon oxide-niobium oxide mixture films and nanolaminates grown by atomic layer deposition from niobium pentaethoxide and hexakis(ethylamino) disilane

Abstract

Amorphous SiO2–Nb2O5 nanolaminates and mixture films were grown by atomic layer deposition. The films were grown at 300 °C from Nb(OC2H5)5, Si2(NHC2H5)6, and O3 to thicknesses ranging from 13 to 130 nm. The niobium to silicon atomic ratio was varied in the range of 0.11–7.20. After optimizing the composition, resistive switching properties could be observed in the form of characteristic current–voltage behavior. Switching parameters in the conventional regime were well defined only in a SiO2:Nb2O5 mixture at certain, optimized, composition with Nb:Si atomic ratio of 0.13, whereas low-reading voltage measurements allowed recording memory effects in a wider composition range.