The Influence of the Ar/N2 Ratio During Reactive Magnetron Sputtering of TiN Electrodes on the Resistive Switching Behavior of MIM Devices

Resistive switching (RS) phenomena are nowadays one of the most studied topics in the area of microelectronics. It can be observed in Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) structures that are the basis of resistive switching random-access memories (RRAMs). In the case of commercial use of RRAMs, it is beneficial that the applied materials would have to be compatible with Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Fabricating methods of these materials can determine their stoichiometry and structural composition, which can have a detrimental impact on the electrical performance of manufactured devices. In this study, we present the influence of the Ar/N₂ ratio during reactive magnetron sputtering of titanium nitride (TiN) electrodes on the resistive switching behavior of MIM devices. We used silicon oxide (SiOx) as a dielectric layer, which was characterized by the same properties in all fabricated MIM structures. The composition of TiN thin layers was controlled by tuning the Ar/N₂ ratio during the deposition process. The fabricated conductive materials were characterized in terms of chemical and structural properties employing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Structural characterization revealed that increasing the Ar content during the reactive sputtering process affects the crystallite size of the deposited TiN layer. The resulting crystallite sizes ranged from 8 Å to 757.4 Å. The I-V measurements of fabricated devices revealed that tuning the Ar/N₂ ratio during the deposition of TiN electrodes affects the RS behavior. Our work shows the importance of controlling the stoichiometry and structural parameters of electrodes on resistive switching phenomena.