ON State Stability of Programmable Metalization Cell (PMC) Memory

Programmable metallization cell (PMC) memory is a non-volatile memory technology that is based on the electrochemical growth of a metallic electrodeposit between two metal electrodes, one oxidizable and another electrochemically indifferent. Considerable research has already been done on the processing and the operation of these devices for a variety of materials and their performance has been shown to be promising. However, since the metallic features in PMC devices are grown rather than deposited and patterned, their behavior is expected to be different from that of a typical metallic wire. This work focuses on the characterization of these devices with respect to the durability of the ON state when stressed under various constant bias conditions. In general, negative bias (against the direction necessary for electrodeposition) leads to a slow increase in resistance whereas a positive bias results in a decrease in resistance.