Magnetic force microscopy of conducting nanodots in NiO thin films

We report a nanoscale magnetic conducting filament in a resistive random access memory (RRAM) device by the direct investigation of conducting nanobits in NiO thin films using magnetic force microscopy. The conducting nanobit in a NiO RRAM capacitor formed by CAFM and KFM exhibited a typical bistable resistive switching characteristic. The magnetizations of the conducting nanobit were measured as a function of the set-reset switching cycle and as the switching cycles were increased, a strong ferromagnetic signal was observed. The metallic Ni formation in the nanoscale magnetic conducting filament could be a possible reason for the origin of the magnetism. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]