Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Electric-field induced structural transition in vertical MoTe2- and Mo1–xWxTe2-based resistive memories

Nature Materials volume 18, pages 55–61 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenides have attracted attention as potential building blocks for various electronic applications due to their atomically thin nature and polymorphism. Here, we report an electric-field-induced structural transition from a 2H semiconducting to a distorted transient structure (2Hd) and orthorhombic Td conducting phase in vertical 2H-MoTe2- and Mo1−xWxTe2-based resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices. RRAM programming voltages are tunable by the transition metal dichalcogenide thickness and show a distinctive trend of requiring lower electric fields for Mo1−xWxTe2 alloys versus MoTe2 compounds. Devices showed reproducible resistive switching within 10 ns between a high resistive state and a low resistive state. Moreover, using an Al2O3/MoTe2 stack, On/off current ratios of 106 with programming currents lower than 1 μA were achieved in a selectorless RRAM architecture. The sum of these findings demonstrates that controlled electrical state switching in two-dimensional materials is achievable and highlights the potential of transition metal dichalcogenides for memory applications.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Vertical TMD-based device characterization.
Fig. 2: 2H-MoTe2- and 2H-Mo1−xWxTe2-based RRAM behaviour and their set voltages as a function of flake thickness.
Fig. 3: C-AFM and STEM measurements and analysis.
Fig. 4: STEM images and resistance of vertical MoTe2-based devices versus temperature in their respective 2H phase, HRS, LRS and 1T′ phase.
Fig. 5: Performance of 2H-MoTe2-based RRAM under pulsed operation.
Fig. 6: Performance of 2H-Al2O3/MoTe2-based RRAM.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper are available from the corresponding author upon request.

References

  1. Wuttig, M. & Yamada, N. Phase-change materials for rewriteable data storage. Nat. Mater. 6, 824–832 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Liu, K. et al. Powerful, multifunctional torsional micromuscles activated by phase transition. Adv. Mater. 26, 1746–1750 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Gu, Q., Falk, A., Wu, J., Ouyang, L. & Park, H. Current-driven phase oscillation and domain-wall propagation in WxV1 –xO2 nanobeams. Nano Lett. 7, 363–366 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Strelcov, E., Lilach, Y. & Kolmakov, A. Gas sensor based on metal−insulator transition in VO2 nanowire thermistor. Nano Lett. 9, 2322–2326 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhou, Y. & Ramanathan, S. Mott memory and neuromorphic devices. Proc. IEEE 103, 1289–1310 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wong, H. S. P. et al. Phase change memory. Proc. IEEE 98, 2201–2227 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Duerloo, K.-A. N., Li, Y. & Reed, E. J. Structural phase transitions in two-dimensional Mo- and W-dichalcogenide monolayers. Nat. Commun. 5, 4214 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Duerloo, K.-A. N. & Reed, E. J. Structural phase transitions by design in monolayer alloys. ACS Nano 10, 289–297 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Lin, Y.-C., Dumcenco, D. O., Huang, Y.-S. & Suenaga, K. Atomic mechanism of the semiconducting-to-metallic phase transition in single-layered MoS2. Nat. Nanotech. 9, 391–396 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Py, M. A. & Haering, R. R. Structural destabilization induced by lithium intercalation in MoS2 and related compounds. Can. J. Phys. 61, 76–84 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Song, S. et al. Room temperature semiconductor–metal transition of MoTe2 thin films engineered by strain. Nano Lett. 16, 188–193 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Tsipas, P. et al. Direct observation at room temperature of the orthorhombic weyl semimetal phase in thin epitaxial MoTe2. Adv. Funct. Mater. 28, 1802084 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Park, J. C. et al. Phase-engineered synthesis of centimeter-scale 1T′- and 2H-molybdenum ditelluride thin films. ACS Nano 9, 6548–6554 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Vellinga, M. B., de Jonge, R. & Haas, C. Semiconductor to metal transition in MoTe2. J. Solid State Chem. 2, 299–302 (1970).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Keum, D. H. et al. Bandgap opening in few-layered monoclinic MoTe2. Nat. Phys. 11, 482–486 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Empante, T. A. et al. Chemical vapor deposition growth of few-layer MoTe2 in the 2H, 1T′ and 1T phases: tunable properties of MoTe2 films. ACS Nano 11, 900–905 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Wang, Y. et al. Structural phase transition in monolayer MoTe2 driven by electrostatic doping. Nature 550, 487–491 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Li, Y., Duerloo, K. A., Wauson, K. & Reed, E. J. Structural semiconductor-to-semimetal phase transition in two-dimensional materials induced by electrostatic gating. Nat. Commun. 7, 10671 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Zhang, C. et al. Charge mediated reversible metal–insulator transition in monolayer MoTe2 and WxMo1–xTe2 alloy. ACS Nano 10, 7370–7375 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Sean, M. O. et al. The structural phases and vibrational properties of Mo1−xWxTe2 alloys. 2D Mater. 4, 045008 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Lv, Y.-Y. et al. Composition and temperature-dependent phase transition in miscible Mo1−xWxTe2 single crystals. Sci. Rep. 7, 44587 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Wong, H. S. P. et al. Metal-oxide RRAM. Proc. IEEE 100, 1951–1970 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Berger, A. N. et al. Temperature-driven topological transition in 1T′-MoTe2. NPJ Quantum Mater. 3, 2 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Liang, J. & Wong, H. S. P. Cross-point memory array without cell selectors—device characteristics and data storage pattern dependencies. IEEE Trans. Electron. Dev. 57, 2531–2538 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Brewer, L. & Lamoreaux, R. H. in Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams 2nd edn, Vol. 3 (eds. Massalski, T. B., Okamoto, H., Subramanian, P. R. & Kacprzak, L.) 2675–2676 (ASM International, Russell Township, 1990).

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) at the NEWLIMITS Center and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) through award no. 70NANB17H041. S.K. acknowledges support from the US Department of Commerce, NIST under financial assistance award 70NANB16H043. H.Z. acknowledges support from the US Department of Commerce, NIST under financial assistance awards 70NANB15H025 and 70NANB17H249. A.V.D., S.K. and B.P.B. acknowledge support from Material Genome Initiative funding allocated to NIST. The authors thank I. Kalish (NIST) for conducting XRD and EDS measurements on Mo1–xWxTe2 samples. Certain commercial equipment, instruments or materials are identified in this paper to specify the experimental procedure adequately. Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by NIST, nor is it intended to imply that the materials or equipment identified are necessarily the best available for the purpose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Feng Zhang, Cory A. Milligan, Yuqi Zhu, Dmitry Y. Zemlyanov & Joerg Appenzeller

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Feng Zhang, Yuqi Zhu & Joerg Appenzeller

  3. Theiss Research, Inc., La Jolla, CA, USA

    Huairuo Zhang & Sergiy Krylyuk

  4. Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD, USA

    Huairuo Zhang, Sergiy Krylyuk, Leonid A. Bendersky, Benjamin P. Burton & Albert V. Davydov

  5. School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Cory A. Milligan

Authors
  1. Feng Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Huairuo Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sergiy Krylyuk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cory A. Milligan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yuqi Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Dmitry Y. Zemlyanov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Leonid A. Bendersky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Benjamin P. Burton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Albert V. Davydov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Joerg Appenzeller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

F.Z. and J.A. designed the experiments. F.Z. fabricated, measured the devices and performed the conductive AFM measurement. S.K. and A.V.D. synthesized Mo1–xWxTe2 alloy samples. C.A.M. and D.Y.Z. performed the STM and STS measurements. D.Y.Z. contributed the STM surface analysis. H.Z. prepared TEM samples using SEM/FIB and performed TEM/STEM measurements. H.Z., L.A.B. and A.V.D. performed the TEM/STEM analysis. B.P.B. conducted ab initio modelling of energetics for the 2H, 2Hd and 1T′ MoTe2. Y.Z. and J.A. carried out the model simulation for vertical electrical transport. F.Z., H.Z., L.A.B., A.V.D. and J.A. wrote the manuscript and discussed the results at all stages.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Huairuo Zhang or Joerg Appenzeller.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Sections 1–14, Supplementary References 1–14, Supplementary Table 1, Supplementary Figures 1–17

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, F., Zhang, H., Krylyuk, S. et al. Electric-field induced structural transition in vertical MoTe2- and Mo1–xWxTe2-based resistive memories. Nature Mater 18, 55–61 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0234-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0234-y

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing