Improved performance for Ag nanoparticles-assisted HfO₂ thin film-based device

In this article, we have reported the deposition of Ag nanoparticles assisted HfO2 thin film-based device with an Au electrode using GLAD-assisted conventional electron beam evaporation technique for memcapacitive applications. The structural, morphology, and chemical compositions were investigated using XRD, FESEM, AFM, and XPS characteristics. The XPS analysis confirmed the presence of oxygen vacancy. The C-V hysteresis loop of the device at various sweeping voltages from +/- 1 V to +/- 4 V indicated the mechanism of trapping charges. The memory window of the device increased from 0.82 V to 2.21 V as well as the trapped charge density (N) increased from 6.81 x 10(9)/cm(2) to 18.35 x 10(9)/cm(2) with sweeping voltages increases from +/- 1 V to +/- 4 V. The C-V and G-V characteristic for different frequencies of 500 KHz to 1 MHz was conducted to investigate the charge-trapping nature of the device with a low interface trapped density (D-it) value of 8.82 x 10(11) eV(-1)/ cm(2) at 1 MHz. In addition, the deposited device exhibited forming-free abnormal bipolar resistive switching behavior with a charge conduction mechanism ascribed to hopping conduction and a strong space charge limited current (SCLC). Also, the device displayed a stable endurance of 2000 cycles, a resistance window of similar to 252, and an excellent data retention of >10(4) s. These impressive results made the Ag nanoparticles-assisted HfO2 thin film a promising device for applications in advanced memcapacitive non-volatile memory technologies for the next generation.