Understanding the switching mechanism of interfacial phase change memory

Okabe, Kye L.; Sood, Aditya; Yalon, Eilam; Neumann, Christopher M.; Asheghi, Mehdi; Pop, Eric; Goodson, Kenneth E.; Wong, H. -S.  Philip

doi:10.1063/1.5093907

Title: Understanding the switching mechanism of interfacial phase change memory

Journal Article · Mon May 13 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5093907· OSTI ID:1532494

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Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering; Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering; Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

Phase Change Memory (PCM) is a top candidate for next generation data storage, but it typically suffers from high switching (RESET) current density (20–30 MA/cm²). Interfacial Phase Change Memory (IPCM) is a type of PCM using multilayers of Sb₂Te₃/GeTe, with up to 100× lower reported RESET current compared to the standard Ge₂Sb₂Te₅-based PCM. Several hypotheses involving fundamentally new switching mechanisms have been proposed to explain the low switching current densities, but consensus is lacking. Here, we investigate IPCM switching by analyzing its thermal, electrical, and fabrication dependencies. First, we measure the effective thermal conductivity (~0.4 W m^-1 K^-1) and thermal boundary resistance (~3.4 m² K GW^-1) of Sb₂Te₃/GeTe multilayers. Simulations show that IPCM thermal properties account only for an ~13% reduction of current vs standard PCM and cannot explain previously reported results. Interestingly, electrical measurements reveal that our IPCM RESET indeed occurs by a melt-quench process, similar to PCM. Finally, we find that high deposition temperature causes defects including surface roughness and voids within the multilayer films. Thus, the substantial RESET current reduction of IPCM appears to be caused by voids within the multilayers, which migrate to the bottom electrode interface by thermophoresis, reducing the effective contact area. These results shed light on the IPCM switching mechanism, indicating that an improved control of layer deposition is necessary to obtain reliable switching.

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Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; ECCS-1542152; ECCS-1709200; EEC-1449548

OSTI ID:: 1532494

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 125, Issue 18; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 27 works

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