Investigation of lithium (Li) doping on the resistive switching property of p-Li:NiO/n-β-Ga₂O₃ thin-film based heterojunction devices.

This article focuses on the fabrication and resistive switching (RS) properties of lithium-doped nickel oxide/gallium oxide (Li:NiO/β-Ga₂O₃) polycrystalline bilayer thin-film p–n heterojunction devices grown on silicon substrates via pulsed laser deposition. The study demonstrates that Li-doping concentration in the NiO layer critically affects device performance, with an optimal doping level of 1.5% yielding a stable memory window of approximately 10², endurance exceeding 100 cycles, and retention beyond 10⁴ seconds. Devices with intermediate Li concentrations exhibit a transition from complementary resistive switching (CRS) to bipolar resistive switching (BRS), attributed to Li-ion redistribution from a Li-rich interfacial layer formed by Li out-diffusion. The research further identifies that the Poole–Frenkel conduction mechanism during the RESET process is key to achieving high-performance RS behavior in these p–n junction devices.