Impact of coupling capacitance on read operation of RRAM devices in 1D1R crossbar architectures

This paper presents a simulation-based study to understand the impact of coupling capacitance on the read operation of nanoscale RRAM devices in 1D1R crossbar memory architectures. Our simulation results show that the coupling capacitances can form additional sneak paths which can lead to RRAM HRS read failure. Increase in the coupling capacitance increases the transient charging current when an ultra-fast read pulse is used for the read operation. The transient charging current causes temporal reduction in LRS:HRS read current ratio which puts a limit on the read speed. This issue can be alleviated by using larger read pulses, however, this comes at the cost of higher read energy. Finally, the signature of coupling capacitance becomes more severe as the size of the crossbar increase.