Energy landscape model of conduction and phase transition in phase change memories

IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices

Volumn 60, Issue 11, 2013, Pages 3618-3624

  Rizzi, Maurizio ^a   Ferro, Massimo ^b   Fantini, Paolo ^b   Ielmini, Daniele ^a  

^a POLITECNICO DI MILANO   (Italy)

^b MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC   (United States)

Author keywords

Conduction; energy landscape; phase transition; phase change memory (PCM)

Indexed keywords

ENERGY LANDSCAPE; HIGH-RESISTANCE STATE; PERCOLATION EFFECTS; PHASE CHANGE MEMORY (PCM); POTENTIAL ENERGY LANDSCAPES; SUBTHRESHOLD CONDUCTION; THICKNESS DEPENDENCE; TRANSPORT MECHANISM;

HEAT CONDUCTION; PHASE TRANSITIONS; SOLVENTS;

PHASE CHANGE MEMORY;

EID: 84887214185     PISSN: 00189383     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1109/TED.2013.2280791     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. G. Servalli, "A 45 nm generation phase change memory technology," in Proc. IEDM, Dec. 2009, pp. 113-116.
2. Y. Choi, I. Song, M.-H. Park, H. Chung, S. Chang, B. Cho, J. Kim, Y. Oh, D. Kwon, J. Sunwoo, J. Shin, Y. Rho, C. Lee, M. Kang, J. Lee, Y. Kwon, S. Kim, J. Kim, Y.-J. Lee, Q. Wang, S. Cha, S. Ahn, H. Horii, J. Lee, K. Kim, H. Joo, K. Lee, Y.-T. Lee, J. Yoo, and G. Jeong, "A 20 nm 1. 8 V 8 Gb PRAM with 40MB/s program bandwidth," in Proc. IEEE Int. Solid-State Conf. Dig. Tech. Papers, Feb. 2012, pp. 46-48.
3. G. Bruns, P. Merkelbach, C. Schlockermann, M. Salinga, M. Wuttig, T. D. Happ, J. B. Philipp, and M. Kund, "Nanosecond switching in GeTe phase change memory cells," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 043108-1-043108-3, 2009.
4. D. Loke, T. H. Lee, W. J. Wang, L. P. Shi, R. Zhao, Y. C. Yeo, T. C. Chong, and S. R. Elliott, "Breaking the speed limits of phasechange memory," Science, vol. 336, pp. 1566-1569, Jun. 2012.
5. F. Xiong, A. D. Liao, D. Estrada, and E. Pop, "Low-power switching of phase-change materials with carbon nanotube electrodes," Science, vol. 332, pp. 568-570, Mar. 2011.
6. J. Liang, R. G. D. Jeyasingh, H.-Y. Chen, and H.-S. P. Wong, "A 1. 4 ?A reset current phase change memory cell with integrated carbon nanotube electrodes for cross-point memory application," in Proc. Symp. VLSI Technol., Jun. 2011, pp. 100-101.
7. N. Ciocchini, M. Cassinerio, D. Fugazza, and D. Ielmini, "Non-Arrhenius pulse-induced crystallization in phase change memories," in Proc. IEEE IEDM, Dec. 2012, pp. 31. 2. 1-31. 2. 4.
8. G. Ruocco, "Glasses: When disorder helps," Nature Mater., vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 842-843, 2008.
9. S. C. Agarwal, "Role of potential fluctuations in phase-change GST memory devices," Phys. Status Solidi B, vol. 249, no. 10, pp. 1956-1961, 2012.
10. H. Fritzsche, "Optical and electrical energy gaps in amorphous semiconductors," J. Non-Cryst. Solids, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 49-71, 1971.
11. S. Caravati, M. Bernasconi, T. D. Kuhne, M. Krack, and M. Parrinello, "Coexistence of tetrahedral-and octahedral-like sites in amorphous phase change materials," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 91, no. 17, pp. 171906-1-171906-3, 2007.
12. T. Matsunaga, J. Akola, S. Kohara, T. Honma, K. Kobayashi, E. Ikenaga, R. O. Jones, N. Yamada, M. Takata, and R. Kojima, "From local structure to nanosecond recrystallization dynamics in AgInSbTe phase-change materials," Nature Mater., vol. 10, pp. 129-134, Jan. 2011.
13. R. Zallen and H. Scher, "Percolation on a continuum and the localization-delocalization transition in amorphous semiconductors," Phys. Rev. B, vol. 4, no. 12, pp. 4471-4479, 1971.
14. D. Ielmini, "Threshold switching mechanism by high-field energy gain in the hopping transport of chalcogenide glasses," Phys. Rev. B, vol. 78, no. 3, pp. 035308-1-035308-8, 2008.
15. D. Ielmini and Y. Zhang, "Analytical model for subthreshold conduction and threshold switching in chalcogenide-based memory devices," J. Appl. Phys., vol. 102, no. 5, pp. 054517-1-054517-13, 2007.
16. D. Fugazza, D. Ielmini, S. Lavizzari, and A. L. Lacaita, "Distributed-Poole-Frenkel modeling of anomalous resistance scaling and fluctuations in phase-change memory (PCM) devices," in Proc. IEEE IEDM, Dec. 2009, pp. 723-726.
17. D. Fugazza, D. Ielmini, G. Montemurro, and A. L. Lacaita, "Temperature-and time-dependent conduction controlled by activation energy in PCM," in Proc. IEEE IEDM, Dec. 2010, pp. 652-655.
18. N. Ciocchini, M. Cassinerio, D. Fugazza, and D. Ielmini, "Modeling of threshold-voltage drift in phase-change memory (PCM) devices," IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 59, no. 11, pp. 3084-3090, Nov. 2012.
19. A. Calderoni, M. Ferro, E. Varesi, P. Fantini, M. Rizzi, and D. Ielmini, "Understanding overreset transition in phase-change memory characteristics," IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 1267-1269, Sep. 2012.
20. K. Shportko, "Resonant bonding in crystalline phase-change materials," Nature Mater., vol. 7, pp. 653-658, Jul. 2008.
21. D. Ielmini, D. Sharma, S. Lavizzari, and A. L. Lacaita, "Reliability impact of chalcogenide-structure relaxation in phase-change memory (PCM) cells-Part I: Experimental study," IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 56, no. 5, pp. 1070-1077, May 2009.
22. P. Fantini, M. Ferro, A. Calderoni, and S. Brazzelli, "Disorder enhancement due to structural relaxation in amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 100, no. 21, pp. 213506-1-213506-4, 2012.