Modeling of Quantized Conductance Effects in Electrochemical Metallization Cells

The integration of microelectronics and information technology goes progressively on, and nonvolatile memory devices are now based on processes on the atomic scale. Thus, quantum size effects become an inevitable part of the modern devices. Here, we report on conductance quantization effects in electrochemical metallization cells at room temperature. We modified the extended memristor model for a SPICE simulation based on the experimental results for SiO₂- and AgI-based ECM cells. Additionally, we present a 1-D kinetic Monte Carlo simulation model to account for quantum size effects. Our simulation models comprises the impact of the recently discovered nonequilibrium states on the stability of quantized conductance values and reproduces the stochastic nature of the resistance levels.