A Novel Resistance Memory with High Scalability and Nanosecond Switching

We report a novel nonvolatile dual-layered electrolytic resistance memory composed of a conductive Cu ion activated layer and a thin insulator for the first time. An ON/OFF mechanism of this new type memory is postulated as follows: Cu ions pierce through the insulator layer by applied electric field, the ions form a Cu conductive bridge in the insulator layer, and this bridge dissolves back to the ion activated layer when the field is reversed. The 4 kbit memory array with 1T-1R cell structure was fabricated based on 180 nm CMOS process. Set/reset pulses were 5 ns, 110 muA and 1 ns, 125 muA, respectively. Those conditions provide large set/reset resistance ratio of over 2 orders of magnitude and satisfactory retention. Essential characteristics for high capacity memories including superb scalability down to 20 nmphi, sufficient endurance up to 10⁷ cycles and preliminary data for 4-level memory are also presented. These characteristics promise the memory being the next generation high capacity nonvolatile memory even before the scaling limitation of flash memories is encountered.