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Kyungmin Kim

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology · Engineering

About the Lab

Professor Kyungmin Kim's research lab specializes in resistive switching mechanisms in transition metal oxide thin films, with a focus on memristive devices for next-generation neuromorphic computing and low-power electronics. The lab investigates fundamental switching behaviors—particularly in materials like TiO₂, HfO₂, and NbOₓ—exploring mechanisms such as filament formation, electrochemical metallization, and trap-mediated conduction. Key research directions include developing self-rectifying, forming-free memristors with ultra-low programming currents, and mimicking biological neural functions such as nociception using electronic receptors. The lab also pioneers innovative device architectures and control strategies, such as self-limited switching and asymmetric voltage schemes, to enhance reliability and scalability for real-world applications.

resistive switchingmemristorneuromorphic computingoxide thin filmslow-power electronics

Research Overview

Papers
114
Total Citations
8,056
Papers (5y)
53
Primary Field
Engineering

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
53total
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Citations per year (5y)
791total
20222023202420252026

Selected Papers

15
1
Review|622 citations·2011
Nanofilamentary resistive switching in binary oxide system; a review on the present status and outlook
Kyung Min Kim, Doo Seok Jeong, Cheol Seong Hwang
SJR Q2Nanotechnology

This review article summarized the recent understanding of resistance switching (RS) behavior in several binary oxide thin film systems. Among the various RS materials and mechanisms, TiO(2) and NiO thin films in unipolar thermo-chemical switching mode are primarily dealt with. To facilitate the discussions, the RS was divided into three parts; electroforming, set and reset steps. After short discussions on the electrochemistry of 'electrolytic' oxide materials, the general and peculiar aspects

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
2
Article|241 citations·2016
Low-Power, Self-Rectifying, and Forming-Free Memristor with an Asymmetric Programing Voltage for a High-Density Crossbar Application
Kyung Min Kim, Jiaming Zhang, Catherine E. Graves, J. Joshua Yang, Byung Joon Choi, Cheol Seong Hwang, Zhiyong Li, R. Stanley Williams
SJR Q1Nano Letters

A Pt/NbO x /TiO y /NbO x /TiN stack integrated on a 30 nm contact via shows a programming current as low as 10 nA and 1 pA for the set and reset switching, respectively, and a self-rectifying ratio as high as ∼10 5, which are suitable characteristics for low-power memristor applications. It also shows a forming-free characteristic. A charge-trap-associated switching model is proposed to account for this self-rectifying memrisive behavior. In addition, an asymmetric voltage scheme (AVS) to decrea

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
3
Article|215 citations·2018
Nociceptive Memristor
Yumin Kim, Young Jae Kwon, Dae Eun Kwon, Kyung Jean Yoon, Jung Ho Yoon, Sijung Yoo, Hae Jin Kim, Tae Hyung Park, Jin‐Woo Han, Kyung Min Kim, Cheol Seong Hwang
SJR Q1Advanced Materials

Abstract The biomimetic characteristics of the memristor as an electronic synapse and neuron have inspired the advent of new information technology in the neuromorphic computing. The application of the memristors can be extended to the artificial nerves on condition of the presence of electronic receptors which can transfer the external stimuli to the internal nerve system. In this work, nociceptor behaviors are demonstrated from the Pt/HfO 2 /TiN memristor for the electronic receptors. The devi

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
4
Article|194 citations·2011
A detailed understanding of the electronic bipolar resistance switching behavior in Pt/TiO2/Pt structure
Kyung Min Kim, Byung Joon Choi, Min Hwan Lee, Gun Hwan Kim, Seul Ji Song, Jun Yeong Seok, Jeong Ho Yoon, Seungwu Han, Cheol Seong Hwang
SJR Q2Nanotechnology

The detailed mechanism of electronic bipolar resistance switching (BRS) in the Pt/TiO(2)/Pt structure was examined. The conduction mechanism analysis showed that the trap-free and trap-mediated space-charge-limited conduction (SCLC) governs the low and high resistance state of BRS, respectively. The SCLC was confirmed by fitting the current-voltage characteristics of low and high resistance states at various temperatures. The BRS behavior originated from the asymmetric potential barrier for elec

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
5
Article|133 citations·2010
Electrically configurable electroforming and bipolar resistive switching in Pt/TiO2/Pt structures
Kyung Min Kim, Gun Hwan Kim, Seul Ji Song, Jun Yeong Seok, Min Hwan Lee, Jeong Ho Yoon, Cheol Seong Hwang
SJR Q2Nanotechnology

This study examined the effects of electrical forming methods on the bipolar resistance switching (BRS) behavior in Pt/TiO(2)/Pt sandwich structures. The BRS is confined to a region near the ruptured end of conducting nanofilaments, which are composed of a Ti(n)O(2n-1) Magnéli phase formed by electroforming. The intermediate phase with an oxygen vacancy concentration between the insulating TiO(2) and the residual conducting filament that formed at the interface region was considered to be the sw

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
6
Article|128 citations·2015
Self‐Limited Switching in Ta2O5/TaOx Memristors Exhibiting Uniform Multilevel Changes in Resistance
Kyung Min Kim, Seung Ryul Lee, Sungho Kim, Man Chang, Cheol Seong Hwang
SJR Q1Advanced Functional Materials

To facilitate the development of memristive devices, it is essential to resolve the problem of non‐uniformity in switching, which is caused by the random nature of the filamentary switching mechanism in many resistance switching memories based on transition metal oxide. In addition, device parameters such as low‐ and high‐state resistance should be regulated as desired. These issues can be overcome if memristive devices have switching limits for both the low‐ and high‐resistance states and if th

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
7
Article|125 citations·2016
Voltage divider effect for the improvement of variability and endurance ofTaOx memristor
Kyung Min Kim, J. Joshua Yang, John Paul Strachan, Emmanuelle Merced Grafals, Ning Ge, Noraica Davila Melendez, Zhiyong Li, R. Stanley Williams
SJR Q1Scientific ReportsOA

The impact of a series resistor (R(S)) on the variability and endurance performance of memristor was studied in the TaO(x) memristive system. A dynamic voltage divider between the R(S) and memristor during both the set and the reset switching cycles can suppress the inherent irregularity of the voltage dropped on the memristor, resulting in a greatly reduced switching variability. By selecting the proper resistance value of R(S) for the set and reset cycles respectively, we observed a dramatical

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
8
Article|115 citations·2021
Self-clocking fast and variation tolerant true random number generator based on a stochastic mott memristor
Gwangmin Kim, Jae Hyun In, Young Seok Kim, Hakseung Rhee, Woojoon Park, Hanchan Song, Juseong Park, Kyung Min Kim
SJR Q1Nature CommunicationsOA

Abstract The intrinsic stochasticity of the memristor can be used to generate true random numbers, essential for non-decryptable hardware-based security devices. Here, we propose a novel and advanced method to generate true random numbers utilizing the stochastic oscillation behavior of a NbO x mott memristor, exhibiting self-clocking, fast and variation tolerant characteristics. The random number generation rate of the device can be at least 40 kb s −1 , which is the fastest record compared wit

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
9
Article|89 citations·2011
Collective Motion of Conducting Filaments in Pt/n‐Type TiO2/p‐Type NiO/Pt Stacked Resistance Switching Memory
Kyung Min Kim, Seul Ji Song, Gun Hwan Kim, Jun Yeong Seok, Min Hwan Lee, Jung Ho Yoon, Jucheol Park, Cheol Seong Hwang
SJR Q1Advanced Functional Materials

Abstract Filamentary resistance switching (RS) is one of the more obvious and useful phenomena in the family of RS mechanisms. In filamentary RS, the long reset switching time and substantially large power consumption are the critical obstacles for microelectronic applications. In this study, an innovative solution to overcome this reset problem is suggested by stacking n‐type TiO 2 and p‐type NiO films. Interestingly, in this stacked structure, the region where filament rupture and rejuvenation

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
10
Article|83 citations·2019
A Family of Stateful Memristor Gates for Complete Cascading Logic
Kyung Min Kim, R. Stanley Williams
SJR Q1IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I Regular PapersOA

The conditional switching of memristors to execute stateful implication logic is an example of in-memory computation to potentially provide high energy efficiency and improved computation speed by avoiding the movement of data back and forth between a processing chip and memory and/or storage. Since the first demonstration of memristor implication logic, a significant goal has been to improve the logic cascading to make it more practical. Here, we describe and experimentally demonstrate nine sym

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
11
Article|66 citations·2022
Retention Secured Nonlinear and Self‐Rectifying Analog Charge Trap Memristor for Energy‐Efficient Neuromorphic Hardware
Geunyoung Kim, Seoil Son, Hanchan Song, Jae Bum Jeon, Jiyun Lee, Woon Hyung Cheong, Shinhyun Choi, Kyung Min Kim
SJR Q1Advanced ScienceOA

Abstract A memristive crossbar array (MCA) is an ideal platform for emerging memory and neuromorphic hardware due to its high bitwise density capability. A charge trap memristor (CTM) is an attractive candidate for the memristor cell of the MCA, because the embodied rectifying characteristic frees it from the sneak current issue. Although the potential of the CTM devices has been suggested, their practical viability needs to be further proved. Here, a Pt/Ta 2 O 5 /Nb 2 O 5‐ x /Al 2 O 3‐ y /Ti CT

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
12
Article|57 citations·2019
Defect-Engineered Electroforming-Free Analog HfOx Memristor and Its Application to the Neural Network
Gil Seop Kim, Hanchan Song, Youn‐Kyoung Lee, Ji Hun Kim, Woohyun Kim, Tae Hyung Park, Hae Jin Kim, Kyung Min Kim, Cheol Seong Hwang
SJR Q1ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

The thin-film growth conditions in a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition for the (3.0-4.5) nm thick HfO<sub>2</sub> film were optimized to use the film as the resistive switching element in a neuromorphic circuit. The film was intended to be used as a feasible synapse with analog-type conductance-tuning capability. The 4.5 nm thick HfO<sub>2</sub> films on both conventional TiN and a new RuO<sub>2</sub> bottom electrode required the electroforming process for them to operate as a feasible re

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
13
Article|57 citations·2012
Modeling for multilevel switching in oxide-based bipolar resistive memory
Ji‐Hyun Hur, Kyung Min Kim, Man Chang, Seung Ryul Lee, Dongsoo Lee, Chang Bum Lee, Myoung‐Jae Lee, Young‐Bae Kim, Changjung Kim, U‐In Chung
SJR Q2Nanotechnology

We report a physical model for multilevel switching in oxide-based bipolar resistive memory (ReRAM). To confirm the validity of the model, we conduct experiments with tantalum-oxide-based ReRAM of which multi-resistance levels are obtained by reset voltage modifications. It is also noticeable that, in addition to multilevel switching capability, the ReRAM exhibits extremely different switching timescales, i.e. of the order of 10(-7) s to 10(0) s, with regard to reset voltages of only a few volts

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
14
Article|57 citations·2015
Dual Conical Conducting Filament Model in Resistance Switching TiO2 Thin Films
Kyung Min Kim, Tae Hyung Park, Cheol Seong Hwang
SJR Q1Scientific ReportsOA

The resetting behaviors of Pt/TiO2/Pt resistive switching (RS) cell in unipolar RS operations were studied in detail through an experiment and by modeling. The experiment showed that the apparently highly arbitrary resetting current-voltage (I-V) curves could be grouped into three types: normal, delayed, and abnormal behaviors. A dual conical conducting filament (CF) model was conceived, and their electrothermal behaviors were analytically described from the heat-balance and charge-transport equ

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
15
Article|50 citations·2019
A Stateful Logic Family Based on a New Logic Primitive Circuit Composed of Two Antiparallel Bipolar Memristors
Nuo Xu, Tae Gyun Park, Hae Jin Kim, Xinglong Shao, Kyung Jean Yoon, Tae Hyung Park, Liang Fang, Kyung Min Kim, Cheol Seong Hwang
SJR Q1Advanced Intelligent SystemsOA

Stateful logic enables highly energy‐efficient computation because the time and energy consumption for data transfer between the memory and the processing units in the traditional computation system can significantly be saved due to the combined functionalities of logic operation and nonvolatile memory. The logic primitive circuit, usually composed of resistive switching memory or memristor units, is the fundamental and kernel element to build a stateful logic family. However, the current statef

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering

Research Areas

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringArtificial IntelligenceMaterials ChemistryElectronic, Optical and Magnetic MaterialsHardware and ArchitectureMolecular Biology

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