Resistive switching and conductance quantization in poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)-based resistive random access memory device with printable top electrodes

In this study, we present the fabrication of a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS)-based resistive random access memory (RRAM) device using a fully vacuum-free and solution-processed fabrication method, realized using a printable top electrode. Three different printable electrodes, namely Ag epoxy, ethylene glycol(EG)-treated PEDOT:PSS, and dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO)-treated PEDOT:PSS, were used as the top electrode of the RRAM device. Different top electrodes exhibited different switching behaviors as volatile or nonvolatile memory devices. Accordingly, the RRAM device with the Ag epoxy top electrode demonstrated nonvolatile bipolar switching with a quantization effect in the RESET process and multilevel switching. Meanwhile, the RRAM device with the EG-treated PEDOT:PSS electrode exhibited abnormal bipolar resistive switching behavior. Lastly, the RRAM device with the DMSO-treated PEDOT:PSS electrode exhibited volatile switching for the highest stability of up to 500 cycles.