Radiation hardness of InWZnO thin film as resistive switching layer

In this study, the effect of radiation on an amorphous semiconductor InWZnO (IWZO) thin film has been investigated. From the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in-depth analysis, most of the oxygen vacancies in pristine IWZO films are located at the bottom of the film. As the radiation dose increases, the proportion of oxygen vacancies at the bottom of the film increases. However, the top of the IWZO film is hardly affected by the radiation dose. In addition, the resistive switching behavior of an IWZO memristor under irradiation has also been investigated. A forming process and a bipolar I-V curve of the IWZO memristor vary with the radiation dose. The high resistance state of the memristor is significantly degraded at a radiation dose of 1000 krad, which is due to the more defects in the IWZO film. The retention time of the IWZO memristor is up to 104 s at 85 °C with 100 krad. The damaged site in the IWZO film is observed and fabricated into memristors under radiation. The IWZO film as the resistive switching layer exhibits great potential in harsh environments such as polar regions, space technology, nuclear military, and medical imaging.