Investigation into the memristor effect in nanocrystalline ZnO films

The results of experimental investigations into the memristor effect and influence of annealing modes on the electrical properties of nanocrystalline zinc-oxide films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition are presented. The possibility of fabricating a nanocrystalline zinc-oxide film by pulsed laser deposition in a broad range of electrical (resistivity from 1.44 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ to 8.06 $\times$ 10$^{-1}$ $\Omega$ cm) and morphological (roughness from 0.43 $\pm$ 0.32 to 6.36 $\pm$ 0.38 nm) parameters due to the use of post-growth annealing in oxygen (pressure 10$^{-1}$ and 10$^{-3}$ Torr, temperature 300 and 800$^{\circ}$C, and duration from 1 to 10 h) is presented. It is shown that a nanocrystalline zinc-oxide film 58 $\pm$ 2 nm in thickness manifests a stable memristor effect slightly dependent on its morphology–applying a voltage of -2.5 and +4 V leads to switching between states with the resistance 3.3 $\pm$ 1.1 $\times$ 10$^9$ and 8.1 $\pm$ 3.4 $\times$ 10$^7$ $\Omega$, respectively. These results can be used when developing designs and production processes of resistive random-access memory (RRAM) units based on the memristor effect as well as optoelectronics, microelectronics, and nanoelectronics and nanosystem devices.