DOI: 10.1063/1.3667295. Crystallization properties and their drift dependence in phase-change memory studied with a micro-thermal stage

Crystallization properties and their drift dependence in phase-change memory studied with a micro-thermal stage

10.1063/1.3667295

Crossref journal-article

AIP Publishing

Journal of Applied Physics (317)

Abstract

The crystallization properties of phase-change memory (PCM) cells are studied at microsecond time scales using a novel micro-thermal stage. The time for recrystallization due to thermal disturbances is measured for varying amorphous volume fractions and annealing temperatures. PCM cells of intermediate resistances programmed with three different programming schemes are investigated and compared. For multi-bit programming, controlling the pulse-tail duration may be preferable as it has better retention characteristics than pulse-amplitude modulation or current-filament control. The effect of incomplete crystalline filaments on crystallization speed is experimentally investigated in this work, and the Arrhenius parameters are extracted from our crystallization time measurements to support a proposed unified mechanism for crystallization and drift. We have also found that recrystallization can be suppressed by more than 20% when there is a second of delay time between thermal disturbances.

Bibliography

Ahn, C., Lee, B., Jeyasingh, R. G. D., Asheghi, M., Hurkx, G. A. M., Goodson, K. E., & Philip Wong, H.-S. (2011). Crystallization properties and their drift dependence in phase-change memory studied with a micro-thermal stage. Journal of Applied Physics, 110(11).

Authors 7

Chiyui Ahn (first)
Byoungil Lee (additional)
Rakesh G. D. Jeyasingh (additional)
Mehdi Asheghi (additional)
G. A. M. Hurkx (additional)
Kenneth E. Goodson (additional)
H.-S. Philip Wong (additional)

References 18 Referenced 15

{'first-page': '255', 'volume-title': 'IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting', 'year': '2003', 'key': '2023062410385182700_c1'} / IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (2003)
{'first-page': '346910', 'volume-title': 'IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting', 'year': '2006', 'key': '2023062410385182700_c2'} / IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (2006)
{'first-page': '100', 'volume-title': 'IEEE Symposium on VLSI Technology', 'year': '2007', 'key': '2023062410385182700_c3'} / IEEE Symposium on VLSI Technology (2007)
10.1109/TED.2006.885527 / IEEE Trans. Electron Devices (2006)
10.1109/TED.2010.2095502 / IEEE Trans. Electron Devices (2011)
S. Meister., “In-Situ TEM Study of Nanoscale Phase Change Memory Cells” Ph.D. dissertation (Stanford University, 2010).
10.1016/j.mee.2009.03.085 / Microelectron. Eng. (2009)
10.1038/nmat1350 / Nature Mater. (2005)
{'first-page': '315', 'volume-title': 'IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting', 'year': '2007', 'key': '2023062410385182700_c9'} / IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (2007)
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{'first-page': '461', 'volume-title': 'IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting', 'year': '2007', 'key': '2023062410385182700_c12'} / IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (2007)
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{'key': '2023062410385182700_c14', 'first-page': '588', 'volume': '12', 'year': '1937', 'journal-title': 'Z. Tech. Phys. (Liepzig)'} / Z. Tech. Phys. (Liepzig) (1937)
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{'first-page': '939', 'volume-title': 'IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting', 'year': '2007', 'key': '2023062410385182700_c18'} / IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (2007)

Dates

Type	When
Created	13 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 12, 2011, 6:51 p.m.)
Deposited	2 years, 1 month ago (June 24, 2023, 8:03 p.m.)
Indexed	3 weeks, 3 days ago (July 30, 2025, 6:57 a.m.)
Issued	13 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 1, 2011)
Published	13 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 1, 2011)
Published Online	13 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 12, 2011)
Published Print	13 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 1, 2011)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Ahn_2011, title={Crystallization properties and their drift dependence in phase-change memory studied with a micro-thermal stage}, volume={110}, ISSN={1089-7550}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3667295}, DOI={10.1063/1.3667295}, number={11}, journal={Journal of Applied Physics}, publisher={AIP Publishing}, author={Ahn, Chiyui and Lee, Byoungil and Jeyasingh, Rakesh G. D. and Asheghi, Mehdi and Hurkx, G. A. M. and Goodson, Kenneth E. and Philip Wong, H.-S.}, year={2011}, month=dec }

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