Specific Contact Resistance of Phase Change Materials to Metal Electrodes

Author

Roy, Deepu ; Zandt, Micha A A ; Wolters, Rob A M

Author_Institution

NXP Semicond., NXP-TSMC Res. Center, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Volume

31

Issue

11

fYear

2010

Firstpage

1293

Lastpage

1295

Abstract

For phase change random access memory (PCRAM) cells, it is important to know the contact resistance of phase change materials (PCMs) to metal electrodes at the contacts. In this letter, we report the systematic determination of the specific contact resistance (ρc) of doped Sb₂Te and Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ to TiW metal electrodes. These data are reported for both the amorphous and the crystalline states of these PCMs. The temperature and voltage dependences of ρc are also studied. A detailed understanding of these contacts is essential for the scaling, design, device modeling, and optimization of PCRAM cells.

Keywords

antimony compounds; contact resistance; germanium compounds; optimisation; phase change materials; random-access storage; titanium alloys; tungsten alloys; Ge₂Sb₂Te₅-TiW; Sb₂Te-TiW; contact resistance; metal electrodes; optimization; phase change materials; phase change random access memory; Annealing; Contacts; Current measurement; Electrical resistance measurement; Phase change materials; Resistance; Temperature measurement; $hbox{Ge}_{2} hbox{Sb}_{2}hbox{Te}_{5}$; Cross bridge Kelvin resistor (CBKR); doped $hbox{Sb}_{2}hbox{Te}$; phase change materials (PCMs); specific contact resistance $(rho_{c})$;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2010.2066256

Filename

5565415