Electroresistance of Pt/BaTiO3/LaNiO3 ferroelectric tunnel junctions and its dependence on BaTiO3 thickness

Recently, ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) have attracted considerable attention due to their great potential in next generation non-volatile memories. In this work, we report on thickness-dependent tunneling electroresistance (TER) and corresponding evolution of transport behavior in Pt/BaTiO3/LaNiO3 FTJs with various BaTiO3 thicknesses of 2.0, 3.2, and 4.8 nm. The TER effect is observed in the 3.2 nm-thick Pt/BaTiO3/LaNiO3 tunnel junction and an ON/OFF current ratio of similar to 170 is achieved due to the modulation of barrier height by polarization reversal. When the BaTiO3 is increased to 4.8 nm in thickness, the ferroelectric-modulation of the barrier profile becomes more pronounced and the dominant transport mechanism changes from electron tunneling to thermally-activated thermionic injection. As a result, the OFF state current is significantly reduced due to the suppression of the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling with increased width and height of the BaTiO3 barrier. A greatly improved ON/OFF current ratio of similar to 12 500 is thus achieved in the 4.8 nm-thick Pt/BaTiO3/LaNiO3 FTJ device. These results facilitate deeper understanding of the TER effects from the viewpoint of not only the barrier profile but also the transport mechanism.