Understanding amorphous states of phase-change memory using Frenkel-Poole model

Author

Shih, Y.H. ; Lee, M.H. ; Breitwisch, M. ; Cheek, R. ; Wu, J.Y. ; Rajendran, B. ; Zhu, Y. ; Lai, E.K. ; Chen, C.F. ; Cheng, H.Y. ; Schrott, A. ; Joseph, E. ; Dasaka, R. ; Raoux, S. ; Lung, H.L. ; Lam, C.

Author_Institution

Macronix Int. Co., Ltd., Hsinchu, Taiwan

fYear

2009

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

A method based on Frenkel-Poole emission is proposed to model the amorphous state (high resistance state) in mushroom-type phase-change memory devices. The model provides unique insights to probe the device after amorphizing (RESET) operation. Even when the resistance appears the same under different RESET conditions, our model suggests that both the amorphous region size and the defect states are different. With this powerful new tool, detailed changes inside the amorphous GST for MLC operation and retention tests are revealed.

Keywords

defect states; phase change memories; Frenkel-Poole Model; RESET operation; amorphous region size; amorphous states; defect states; multilevel cell operation; phase-change memory; retention tests; Amorphous materials; Current measurement; Fluctuations; Intrusion detection; Phase change memory; Random access memory; Sampling methods; Statistical distributions; Testing; Time measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), 2009 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-5639-0

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-5640-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEDM.2009.5424229

Filename

5424229