Spray deposition of the nanostructured ZnO thin films for non-volatile resistive switching memory applications

Abstract

Recently, the nanostructured metal oxides are widely attracted for resistive switching memory devices. In this work, nanostructured ZnO thin films were deposited via simple and cost-effective spray pyrolysis technique (SPT) onto a glass/FTO substrates at 450 °C by varying the solution quantity such as 40, 80, and 120 ml. The structural, morphological, and compositional properties of the deposited ZnO thin films were investigated using XRD, FESEM, AFM and EDAX characterizations. All the deposited ZnO samples showed crystalline nature with nanoflakes-like morphology. The bipolar resistive switching properties of the Al/ZnO/FTO fabricated memristive devices and its mechanism were investigated. The fabricated memristive device showed two-valued charge–flux relation which confirms non-ideal memristor devices. The data retention property of memristive devices was examined by measuring the low-resistance state (LRS) and high-resistance state (HRS) for every 10 s and it can retain data up to 104 s. The ZnO-based memristive device possesses good non-volatile memory properties with reliable device performance that can be advantageous for light-responsive memory, synaptic, sensor devices, etc. Graphical abstract: Synthesis of nanostructured ZnO thin films by spray pyrolysis technique for resistive switching applications. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.