Nanoscale resistive switches: devices, fabrication and integration

With CMOS scaling approaching its limits, there is a great need for advancements in novel devices, disruptive fabrication technologies, advanced materials and alternative computer architectures for future nanoelectronic systems. The emergence of memristive devices is one of promising solutions for the post-CMOS era. In this paper, we first introduce the fabrication of transition metal oxide based memristor cross-bars using nanoimprint lithography (NIL). The fabrication technique is further improved by using only one NIL step, reducing the fabrication efforts and improving the device performance. With shadow evaporation, a host of devices such as 2-terminal lateral memristors and 3-terminal memristive devices (memistors) are also demonstrated. By building memristor cross-bar arrays on foundry-made CMOS substrates using NIL, we have implemented hybrid nano/CMOS architecture. This hybrid chip provides an FPGA-like functionality with reconfigurable memristors defining data paths to wire logic gates into digital circuits. Future trends and issues with fabrication of memristive devices are also briefly discussed.