A Monte Carlo analysis of a write method used in passive nanoelectronic crossbars

The performance of a method for robustly writing conductive states into resistive switches is analyzed. The focus is set on the variability of the conductance distribution which has a strong impact on the signal margin and the robustness of the circuit performance. In order to be able to capture cycle-to-cycle as well as device-to-device variability an existing device model for ECM cells was extended and prepared to be executable on standard circuit simulation platforms. The ECM devices were embedded into a passive crossbar whereby electrical worst case conditions were identified by Monte Carlo simulations. Under the constraint of specified signal margins to be maintained for the read operation the underlying write circuit was optimized.