Ultrahigh Storage Densities via the Scaling of Patterned Probe Phase-Change Memories

2020

IEEE Access

Phase-change materials, also well known as the Chalcogenide alloy, have received considerable attention during last two decades owing to its widespread applications in the field of the electrical storage market such as phase-change random access memory and phase-change probe memory. In addition to the storage devices, its unique electrical properties that can be dynamically tunable with respect to the electrical excitations lead to numerous novel applications represented by memristor and memristor-based neuromorphic electrical circuits. These emerging applications undoubtedly allows for a further exploitation of the potential of phase-change materials, and thus makes it advantageous over other storage medium like ferroelectric and magnetic materials. In order to help researchers understand the role of phase-change materials in these novel applications as well as their importance for citizen's daily life, a comprehensive review that not only covers the traditional storage applications, but also the applications on these exotic devices becomes imperative. In this review, the chemical structure of phase-change materials and their remarkable electrical properties are first reviewed, followed by an introduction of their applications on the storage fields. The physical principles of various emerging electrical devices using phase-change materials are subsequently overviewed in association with their state-of-the-art progress. The prospect of phase-change materials for the future non-volatile electrical applications that are yet to be unraveled is finally envisaged.

Section: Phase-change Memoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of Phase Change Materials in Electrical Regime From Conventional Storage Memory to Novel Neuromorphic Computing

Liu

2020

IEEE Access

“…However, one severe issue of this architecture arises from the presence of excessive temperature inside the DLC capping due to its low thermal conductivity, which may melt the DLC protection layer. In this case, Wright et al has recently proposed an alternative structure that comprise a GST layer with a thickness varying from 5 nm to 50 nm sandwiched by a 10 nm TiN capping and bottom electrode [ 51 ]. In addition, similar to [ 45 ], the GST layer in Wright’s structure is separated by a 20 nm wide SiO 2 insulator to carefully suppress the thermal diffusion effect due to the low thermal conductivity of SiO 2 media, thus allowing for the absence of the crystalline ‘halo’.…”

Section: Current Status Of Phase-change Electrical Probe Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the most intriguing features of PCRAM arises from its multi-level function that was also observed in phase-change electrical probe memory by Yang et al [ 51 ]. As reported in [ 52 ], the test sample consists of a 10 nm amorphous GST layer and a n-type Si substrate deposited on a metal sample holder via an Ag paste, while the probe tip is made of antimony doped Si coated with Pt-Ir.…”

Section: Current Status Of Phase-change Electrical Probe Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Overview of Phase-Change Electrical Probe Memory

Ren²,

Wen

et al. 2018

Nanomaterials

Phase-change electrical probe memory has recently attained considerable attention owing to its profound potential for next-generation mass and archival storage devices. To encourage more talented researchers to enter this field and thereby advance this technology, this paper first introduces approaches to induce the phase transformation of chalcogenide alloy by probe tip, considered as the root of phase-change electrical probe memory. Subsequently the design rule of an optimized architecture of phase-change electrical probe memory is proposed based on a previously developed electrothermal and phase kinetic model, followed by a summary of the state-of-the-art phase-change electrical probe memory and an outlook for its future prospects.

“…Such a high interfacial resistance indeed requires a higher electric stimulus for either crystallization or amorphization. Thanks to this, the practicality of utilizing TiN film for both capping and bottom layers has most recently been subjected to some preliminary investigation [7]. Because of its super-high electrical conductivity, the TiN capping layer allows for much lower contact resistance than that with the DLC capping layer, and no evidence of a reaction between TiN and Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 has been found to date.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential of ITO thin film for electrical probe memory applications

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials

Wen

Yang

et al. 2018

Electrical probe memory has received considerable attention during the last decade due to its prospective potential for the future mass storage device. However, the electrical probe device with conventional diamond-like carbon capping and bottom layers encounters with large interfacial contact resistance and difficulty to match the experimentally measured properties, while its analog with titanium nitride capping and bottom layers also faces serious heat dissipation through either probe and silicon substrate. Therefore, the feasibility of using indium tin oxide (ITO) media for the capping and bottom layers of the electrical probe device is investigated by tailoring the thickness and electrothermal properties of the ITO capping and bottom layers within experimentally established range and subsequently calculating the resultant temperature at several predefined points based on a previously developed three-dimensional model. To meet the required temperature and to fit the experimentally reported values, the thickness, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity of the ITO capping and bottom layers are found to be 5 nm, 103 Ω−1 m−1, 0.84 W m−1 K−1, and 200 nm, 1.25 × 106 Ω−1 m−1, 0.84 W m−1 K−1, respectively. The practicality of using this optimized device to achieve ultrahigh density, ultralow energy consumption, ultrafast switching speed, low interfacial contact resistance, and high thermal reliability has also been demonstrated.