Eur. Phys. J. B (2013) 86: 242
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-30762-7

Regular Article

Interface-engineered resistive switching in Ag/SrTiO₃/Nd_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃/YBa₂Cu₃O₇ heterostructures

¹ Center for Condensed Matter Sciences, National Taiwan University, 106 Taipei, Taiwan
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China

^a e-mail: zwxing@nju.edu.cn
^b e-mail: jglin@ntu.edu.tw

Received: 20 August 2012
Received in final form: 9 March 2013
Published online: 3 June 2013

Abstract

For Ag/Nd_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃/YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (Ag/NCMO/YBCO) heterostructures, we investigate effects of an SrTiO₃ (STO) buffer layer inserted into the Ag/NCMO interface upon the room-temperature resistive switching. In comparison with the non-buffered (Ag/NCMO/YBCO) structure, the insertion of the STO buffer layer can greatly enhance the electric-field-induced-resistance (EPIR) effect. The STO-buffered (Ag/STO/NCMO/ YBCO) device can be switched on-and-off between the higher to lower resistance states at an EPIR ratio of 253% with pulsed voltage  ±1.5 V and 405% with pulsed voltage  ±3.0 V. The enhanced EPIR ratio is attributed to a combined effect of the migration of oxygen vacancies near the interface and ferroelectric polarization of the STO buffer.