The impact of Au-doping on the resistive switching properties of a Cu/HfO2/Pt resistive random access memory (RRAM) device is investigated. The significantly enhanced performances are achieved in the Cu/HfO2 : Au/Pt device, including low set voltages, improved uniformity of switching parameters, enough ON/OFF ratio. This performance improvement in Cu/HfO2: Au/Pt is clarified to the suppressed stochastic formation of oxygen vacancy conducting filaments in the HfO2 film by Au-O bond effect. The validity of the trivalent dopants in future application of HfO2-based RRAM devices is also identified. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.