A Novel Method for Extracting the Temperature-Dependent Crystal-Growth Parameters in Fast-Growth Phase-Change Memories

Author

Goux, L. ; Hurkx, G.A.M. ; Wang, X.P. ; Delhougne, R. ; Attenborough, K. ; Gravesteijn, D. ; Wouters, D.J. ; Gonzalez, J. Perez

Author_Institution

IMEC, Leuven, Belgium

Volume

31

Issue

11

fYear

2010

Firstpage

1287

Lastpage

1289

Abstract

In this letter, we propose a novel method for the extraction of the crystal-growth parameters as a function of temperature in a reset-programmed phase-change memory cell having fast-growth chalcogenide material. The activation energy for the growth of crystal front is obtained using a physics-based analytical simulation fitting a single temperature-ramp measurement. The fit relies on all data points of the ramp measurement, allowing fast and precise determination of the activation energy related to the retention loss of the memory cell.

Keywords

antimony compounds; chalcogenide glasses; crystal growth; phase change materials; phase change memories; semiconductor device models; semiconductor storage; SbTe:Jk; activation energy; fast-growth chalcogenide material; physics-based analytical simulation; reset-programmed phase-change memory cell; retention loss; single temperature-ramp measurement; temperature-dependent crystal-growth; Crystallization; Electrical resistance measurement; Phase change random access memory; Resistance; Temperature measurement; Crystal growth; fast-growth chalcogenide; phase change memory; retention;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2010.2066953

Filename

5580083