The observation of valence band change on resistive switching of epitaxial Pr_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ film using removable liquid electrode

The resistive switching (RS) phenomenon in transition metal oxides (TMOs) has received a great deal of attention for non-volatile memory applications. Various RS mechanisms have been suggested as to explain the observed RS characteristics. Many reports suggest that changes of interface and the role of oxygen vacancies originate in RS phenomena; therefore, in this study, we use a liquid drop of mercury as the top electrode (TE), epitaxial Pr_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ (PCMO) (110) film of the perovskite manganite family for RS material, and an Nb-doped (0.7 at. %) SrTiO₃ (100) single crystal as the substrate to observe changes in the interface between the TE and TMOs. The use of removable liquid electrode Hg drop as TE not only enables observation of the RS characteristic as a bipolar RS curve (counterclockwise) but also facilitates analysis of the valence band of the PCMO surface after resistive switching via photoelectron spectroscopy. The observed I-V behaviors of the low and high resistance states (HRS) are explained with an electrochemical migration model in PCMO film where accumulated oxygen vacancies at the interface between the Hg TE and PCMO (110) surface induce the HRS. The interpreted RS mechanism is directly confirmed via valence band spectrum analysis.