Title :
RESET Distribution Improvement of Phase Change Memory: The Impact of Pre-Programming
Author :
Yuchan Wang ; Xiaogang Chen ; Yan Cheng ; Xilin Zhou ; Shilong Lv ; Yifeng Chen ; Yueqing Wang ; Mi Zhou ; Houpeng Chen ; Yiyun Zhang ; Zhitang Song ; Gaoming Feng
Author_Institution :
State Key Lab. of Functional Mater. for Inf. & Nanotechnol. Lab., Shanghai Inst. of Micro-Syst. & Inf. Technol., Shanghai, China
Abstract :
Some nonvolatile phase change memory (PCM) cells with 80-nm heating electrodes are found very difficult to RESET at 3 mA, which directly affects the RESET distribution of the PCM. The large crystal grains with hexagonal structure in the active phase change area, discovered by transmission electron microscope, are the major reason. One preprogramming testing method is introduced, and the resistance distributions of the PCM cells before and after preprogramming are presented. Results show that the large hexagonal crystal grains have been eliminated, thus the resistance distributions have been greatly improved after preprogramming.
Keywords :
electric resistance; electrodes; phase change memories; RESET distribution; heating electrodes; hexagonal crystal grains; phase change memory; preprogramming testing method; resistance distributions; transmission electron microscope; Crystals; Heating; Microscopy; Phase change materials; Phase change memory; Resistance; Phase change memory (PCM); RESET; pre-programming; pre-programming.; resistance distribution;
Journal_Title :
Electron Device Letters, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/LED.2014.2308909
