Complementary charge trapping and ionic migration in resistive switching of rare-earth manganite TbMnO₃.

Perovskite rare-earth manganites like TbMnO₃ exhibit rich magnetic and electric phases, providing opportunities for next-generation multifunctional devices. Here, we report the nonvolatile bipolar switching of resistance and capacitance in TbMnO₃ thin films grown on conducting Nb:SrTiO₃ substrates. The device shows an ON/OFF resistance ratio of ∼1 × 10⁴, and the resistive switching is accompanied by a frequency-dependent capacitance switching. Detailed analysis of the conduction mechanisms reveals that the migration of oxygen vacancies and the charge trapping/detrapping at the heterojunction interface play important and complementary roles in the switching behaviors. Our results suggest that both electronic and ionic processes should be considered in order to elucidate the conduction mechanisms and the switching behaviors in such heterostructures made of complex oxides.