Status and Prospects of ZnO-Based Resistive Switching Memory Devices

In the advancement of the semiconductor device technology, ZnO could be a prospective alternative than the other metal oxides for its versatility and huge applications in different aspects. In this review, a thorough overview on ZnO for the application of resistive switching memory (RRAM) devices has been conducted. Various efforts that have been made to investigate and modulate the switching characteristics of ZnO-based switching memory devices are discussed. The use of ZnO layer in different structure, the different types of filament formation, and the different types of switching including complementary switching are reported. By considering the huge interest of transparent devices, this review gives the concrete overview of the present status and prospects of transparent RRAM devices based on ZnO. ZnO-based RRAM can be used for flexible memory devices, which is also covered here. Another challenge in ZnO-based RRAM is that the realization of ultra-thin and low power devices. Nevertheless, ZnO not only offers decent memory properties but also has a unique potential to be used as multifunctional nonvolatile memory devices. The impact of electrode materials, metal doping, stack structures, transparency, and flexibility on resistive switching properties and switching parameters of ZnO-based resistive switching memory devices are briefly compared. This review also covers the different nanostructured-based emerging resistive switching memory devices for low power scalable devices. It may give a valuable insight on developing ZnO-based RRAM and also should encourage researchers to overcome the challenges

Influence of tin precursor concentration on physical properties of nebulized spray deposited tin disulfide thin films

Tin disulfide thin films were prepared with different molarities of tin species (MSn) at the optimized substrate temperature using the Nebulized Spray pyrolysis technique to obtain better crystallinity with mono phase thin films. The concentration of Tin IV chloride Penta hydrate precursor is varied from 0.05:0.4 to 0.25:0.4 (SnCl4.5H2O: thiourea) to achieve correct stoichiometry and to tune the concentration of Tin ions in the SnS2 thin films. These films were well adherent, uniform, and shiny. Lower concentrations of Tin yields highly textured SnS2 thin films with (001) crystallite orientation. On increasing the concentration, the multi-phases (SnS and Sn2S3) were found to be present along with SnS2 material. The platelet-like grains were observed from SEM analysis in these SnS2 films. Multiple interference effects were predominant in all these thin films in the wavelength region of 600–1100 nm. The direct optical band gap of tin disulfide thin films had decreased from 3.2 eV to 2.75 eV with an increase in MSn from 0.05 to 0.2 M, respectively, and further increased to 3.0 eV for 0.25 M concentration. Using Hall Effect measurement, the type of semiconductor is found to be of n-type. A minimum resistivity value of 2.19 × 103 Ω cm was obtained for the film grown at MSn = 0.2 M

Nanostructured Oxide (SnO₂, FTO) Thin Films for Energy Harvesting: A Significant Increase in Thermoelectric Power at Low Temperature

Previous studies have shown that undoped and doped SnO2 thin films have better optical and electrical properties. This study aims to investigate the thermoelectric properties of two distinct semiconducting oxide thin films, namely SnO2 and F-doped SnO2 (FTO), by the nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique. An X-ray diffraction study reveals that the synthesized films exhibit a tetragonal structure with the (200) preferred orientation. The film structural quality increases from SnO2 to FTO due to the substitution of F− ions into the host lattice. The film thickness increases from 530 nm for SnO2 to 650 nm for FTO films. Room-temperature electrical resistivity decreases from (8.96 ± 0.02) × 10−2 Ω·cm to (4.64 ± 0.01) × 10−3 Ω·cm for the SnO2 and FTO thin films, respectively. This is due to the increase in the carrier density of the films, (2.92 ± 0.02) × 1019 cm−3 (SnO2) and (1.63 ± 0.03) × 1020 cm−3 (FTO), caused by anionic substitution. It is confirmed that varying the temperature (K) enhances the electron transport properties. The obtained Seebeck coefficient (S) increases as the temperature is increased, up to 360 K. The synthesized films exhibit the S value of −234 ± 3 μV/K (SnO2) and −204 ± 3 μV/K (FTO) at 360 K. The estimated power factor (PF) drastically increases from ~70 (μW/m·K2) to ~900 (μW/m·K2) for the SnO2 and FTO film, respectively