High Endurance Resistive Switching Based on Phase Transition Realized in MoTe₂ Memristors

MoTe₂-based phase-transition memristors have attracted considerable interest owing to their ultrafast phase transition between the semiconducting 2H phase and the metallic 1T′ phase. However, the limited endurance of existing devices has hindered their practical application in non-volatile memory. In this study, a high-endurance capable of over 10⁸ switching cycles is achieved by optimizing the polarity of the forming voltage in the MoTe₂-based phase-transition memristor. The device also exhibits excellent cycle-to-cycle uniformity and a good retention for 10⁵ s. A detailed mechanistic analysis elucidates that the application of a positive forming voltage markedly enhances resistive switching performance, attributable to the congruence between the voltage polarity and the gradient Te vacancy distribution induced by Ar plasma treatment. These findings offer a promising strategy to improve the endurance of phase-transition memristors based on two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides, paving the way for their practical implementation in next-generation memory technologies.