Implementation of nitrogen-doped titanium-tungsten tunable heater in phase change random access memory and its effects on device performance

Journal Article · Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4898002· OSTI ID:22350924

Tan, Chun Chia ^[1]; Zhao, Rong; Chong, Tow Chong ^[2]; Shi, Luping ^[3]

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1. Data Storage Institute, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), DSI Building, 5 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608 (Singapore)
2. Singapore University of Technology and Design, 20 Dover Drive Singapore 138682 (Singapore)
3. Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

Nitrogen-doped titanium-tungsten (N-TiW) was proposed as a tunable heater in Phase Change Random Access Memory (PCRAM). By tuning N-TiW's material properties through doping, the heater can be tailored to optimize the access speed and programming current of PCRAM. Experiments reveal that N-TiW's resistivity increases and thermal conductivity decreases with increasing nitrogen-doping ratio, and N-TiW devices displayed (∼33% to ∼55%) reduced programming currents. However, there is a tradeoff between the current and speed for heater-based PCRAM. Analysis of devices with different N-TiW heaters shows that N-TiW doping levels could be optimized to enable low RESET currents and fast access speeds.

• OSTI ID: 22350924
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 15; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CURRENTS
DOPED MATERIALS
EQUIPMENT
HEATERS
NITROGEN ADDITIONS
RANDOMNESS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
TITANIUM ALLOYS
TUNGSTEN ALLOYS
TUNING
VELOCITY