Title :
180nm Sn-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 chalcogenide phase-change memory device for low power, high speed embedded memory for SoC applications
Author :
Chen, Y.C. ; Chen, C.T. ; Yu, J.Y. ; Lee, C.Y. ; Chen, C.F. ; Lung, S.L. ; Liu, Rich
Author_Institution :
Macronix Int. Co. Ltd, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
Abstract :
A 180 nm phase-change device is developed for embedded SoC memory to replace both DRAM and Flash memories. In order to reduce power consumption, the total volume of the device must be reduced and the programming speed must be increased. The speed of programming and reading of chalcogenide memory devices is investigated. It is discovered that the writing speed of the devices using Ge2Sb2Te5 as the storage media is compromised when the chalcogenide film is ultra thin. With doping of Sn, the writing speed is dramatically increased. The maximum programming time (SET) is reduced from 200 ns to 40 ns and that for RESET from 40 ns to 10 ns. Moreover, the reading speed is also improved as a result of lower resistance.
Keywords :
germanium compounds; integrated memory circuits; low-power electronics; random-access storage; semiconductor thin films; system-on-chip; tin; 10 ns; 180 nm; 200 ns; 40 ns; Ge2Sb2Te5:Sn; RESET; SET; SoC; chalcogenide RAM; device programming speed increase; device volume reduction; high speed embedded memory; low power memory; nonvolatile memory; phase-change memory device; reading speed; ultra thin chalcogenide film; writing speed; Amorphous materials; Crystalline materials; Crystallization; Electric resistance; Energy consumption; Phase change memory; Random access memory; Tellurium; Temperature; Threshold voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, 2003. Proceedings of the IEEE 2003
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7842-3
DOI :
10.1109/CICC.2003.1249426
