**Author details**

material to be deposited or the precursors used in its growing process, with the pre-deposited layers on the substrate. We exemplified the case describing a particular case, where the non-

use of different precursors, and the fact that a non-negligible interaction between these precursors and pre-existent stacks could produce unconsidered phases, has been discussed in detail. A careful analysis of the device's structure (initially suggested by difficulties in the understanding of measured electrical features) triggered the comprehension of the actual structure of the device. An additional oxide layer was formed because the precursor reacted with the buffer material, giving rise to a completely different stack. Remarkably, this fact rendered advantageous properties which could be useful in the field of multifunctional memory applications.

characterization proved oxidation of the metallic layer underlying the ALD-deposited oxide. Using water instead of ozone as an oxidant allowed to attribute titanium oxidation to the very high reactivity of the oxidant primary employed. Once the complete stack composition was determined, a feasible scenario about the switching mechanism was proposed. This gathers the evidence obtained, through electrical and structural measurements, in a unique picture

The authors would like to acknowledge R. Zazpe and L. Hueso for providing the samples that motivated this chapter and M.J. Sánchez for fruitful discussions on the impedance measurements. Special thanks has to be given to H. Zhang, who performed AFM measure-

C.P. Quinteros also wants to acknowledge DAAD and Argentinian Education Ministry for

This chapter is part of the thesis "Óxidos delgados para micro y nanoelectrónica: degradación, ruptura y aplicaciones tecnológicas" in Spanish by C.P. Quinteros at Buenos Aires University, presented in March 2016 (http://digital.bl.fcen.uba.ar/gsdl-282/cgi-bin/library.

ments, and A. Savenko, who was in charge of in-depth SIMS measurements.


/Ti), a post-deposition structural

volatile memory device of the ReRAM type was grown.

While an MIM stack was expected (consisting of Pd/Co/HfO<sup>2</sup>

that captures all features highlighted within memory behavior.

funding her stay at the Forschungszentrum Jülich.

The authors do not declare any conflict of interest.

**Notes/thanks/other declarations**

cgi?a=d&c=tesis&d=Tesis\_5923\_Quinteros).

The ALD technique was used to obtain HfO2

20 New Uses of Micro and Nanomaterials

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

Cynthia P. Quinteros1,2\*, Alex Hardtdegen3 , Mariano Barella4 , Federico Golmar4,5, Félix Palumbo<sup>6</sup> , Javier Curiale7,8, Susanne Hoffmann-Eifert<sup>3</sup> and Pablo Levy1

\*Address all correspondence to: cpquinterosdominguez@gmail.com

1 CNEA, CONICET, Centro Atómico Constituyentes, San Martín (Buenos Aires), Argentina

2 Actually at Nanostructures of Functional Oxides, ZIAM, University of Groningen (RUG), Groningen, The Netherlands

3 Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany

4 CMNB – INTI, CONICET, San Martín (Buenos Aires), Argentina

5 ECyT – UNSAM, San Martín (Buenos Aires), Argentina

6 UTN - FRBA, CONICET, Buenos Aires city, Argentina

7 CNEA, CONICET, S. C, Bariloche (Río Negro), Argentina

8 Instituto Balseiro, UNCuyo - CNEA, S. C, Bariloche (Río Negro), Argentina
