Ultrafast switching in Ta2O5-based resistive memories

To understand the switching mechanism in resistive switching memories it is important to study the switching kinetics over several orders in time. One open question is the upper limit of the switching speed. In this study, we present a switching kinetics study on Ta2O5-based resistive memories that spans over 15 order of magnitude in time in a single device. Using coplanar waveguide (CPW) devices switching times less than 35 ps are realized, which are still limited by the measurement setup. In addition, the switching event could be unraveled in the sub-ns regime by analyses of the current transients. The switching kinetics of the CPW devices show the same characteristic as 80 × 80 nm2 crossbar devices. Furthermore, we demonstrate multilevel switching with ultrafast sub-ns pulses by variation of the voltage amplitude.