Total Ionizing Dose Effects on TiN/Ti/HfO₂/TiN Resistive Random Access Memory Studied via Electrically Detected Magnetic Resonance

We observe a gamma-irradiation-induced change in electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) in TiN/Ti/HfO₂/TiN resistive random access memory (RRAM). EDMR measurements exclusively detect electrically active defects, which are directly involved in the transport mechanisms within these devices. The EDMR response has an isotropic g value of 2.001 ± 0.0003. The response increases dramatically with increased gamma irradiation. We tentatively associate this EDMR response with spin-dependent trap-assisted tunneling events at O₂^- centers coupled to hafnium ions. Although our study cannot fully identify the role of these defects in electronic transport, the study does unambiguously identify changes in transport defects caused by the ionizing radiation on defects involved in electronic transport in RRAM devices. This paper also contributes more broadly to the RRAM field by providing direct, though incomplete, information about atomic scale defects involved in electronic transport in leading RRAM systems.