Materials selection and fabrication nanotechnology of the composite memristor-diode crossbar — the basis of neuroprocessor hardware implementation

About the authors:

Alexander D. Pisarev, Cand. Sci. (Tech.), Associate Professor, Department of Applied and Technical Physics, School of Natural Sciences, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; Senior Researcher, Memristive Materials Laboratory, Center for Nature-Inspired Engineering, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; spcb.doc@utmn.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5602-3880

Alexander N. Busygin, Cand. Sci. (Phys.-Math.), Associate Professor, Department of Applied and Technical Physics, School of Natural Sciences, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; Senior Researcher, Memristive Materials Laboratory, Center for Nature-Inspired Engineering, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; a.n.busygin@utmn.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3439-8067

Andrey N. Bobylev, Head of the Laboratory of Electronic and Probe Microscopy. REC “Nanotechnology”, University of Tyumen; eLibrary AuthorID, ScopusID, andreaubobylev@gmail.com; ORCID: 0000-0001-5488-8736

Abdulla H. Ebrahim, Cand. Sci. (Phys.-Math.), Junior Researcher, Memristive Materials Laboratory, Center for Nature-Inspired Engineering, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; abdulla.ybragim@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1709-9882

Alexey A. Gubin, Postgraduate Student, Department of Applied and Technical Physics, Engineer, REC “Nanotechnology”, University of Tyumen; a.a.gubin@utmn.ru

Sergey Yu. Udovichenko, Dr. Sci. (Phys.-Math.), Professor, Department of Applied and Tech­nical Physics, School of Natural Sciences, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; Scientific Director of the Memristive Materials Laboratory, Center for Nature-Inspired Engineering, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; udotgu@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3583-7081

Abstract:

To examine the operation of the memory and logic matrices of the neuroprocessor, it is necessary to produce a laboratory composite memristor-diode crossbar, which is the basis of these matrices. For this purpose, the authors of this article have chosen materials and fabrication nanotechnology of Zener diode semiconductor layers and a memristor layer that provide optimal characteristics of the diode and memristors.
This article shows that magnetron-sputtering method is optimal for fabrication of both diodes and memristors. Thus, all of composite memristor-diode crossbar layers, including conducting paths, can be fabricated in single technological module.
ZnO_x was chosen as the n-type semiconductor, the carrier concentration in which is controlled by changing the stoichiometry of the compound during reactive magnetron sputtering. The second p-type layer of the diode was obtained by magnetron sputtering of a silicon target doped with boron. The results show that for the p-Si/ZnO_x heterojunction, there is an optimal molar fraction of zinc, which provides the best characteristics of the diode, and an increase in the doping level of the p-Si layer leads to an increase in the nonlinearity of the current-voltage characteristic and a decrease in the voltage of the reversible breakdown.
The greatest stability of electrical parameters — switching voltages and resistances in high-conductive and low-conductive states — was achieved in a memristor with doped titanium oxide W/Ti_0.93Al_0.07O_y/TiN, which is due not only to the choice of mixed oxide, but also to the choice of its fabrication technology.
The measured current-voltage characteristics of separate cells prove the operability of fabricated memristor-diode crossbar. The authors show that the high resistance of the closed diode leads to the almost complete disappearance of the reverse branch of the memristor current — voltage characteristic, since the small resistance of the memristor is lost against the background high resistance of the diode.
The developed unified nanotechnology for fabricating a combined memristor-diode crossbar allows the production of ultra-large memory and logic matrices of a neuroprocessor based on one technological module with reactive magnetron sputtering.

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