Temperature dependence of the programmed states in GST-based multilevel phase-change memories

Author

Cabrini, A. ; Fantini, A. ; Gallazzi, F. ; Torelli, G.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron., Univ. of Pavia, Pavia

fYear

2008

fDate

Aug. 31 2008-Sept. 3 2008

Firstpage

186

Lastpage

189

Abstract

In this paper, the temperature dependence of the programmed resistance states in GST-based (GST, Ge₂Sb₂Te₅) phase-change memories is analyzed. Memory cells were programmed over the available current range and were measured at different temperatures. The purpose was to determine a relationship between the temperature behaviour of the cell resistance and the programmed current level. Measurements were carried out in a temperature range from -10degC to 85degC, considering cells programmed to the fully crystalline and the fully amorphous state of the active GST portion, as well as cells programmed to eight intermediate current levels (i.e., levels corresponding to partial crystalline states). Experimental results allowed us to find out the dependence of the activation energy of the cell resistance variation upon the programmed state.

Keywords

antimony compounds; germanium compounds; phase change materials; phase change memories; GST-based multilevel phase-change memories; GeSbTe; cell resistance variation; programmed states; temperature dependence; Amorphous materials; Crystalline materials; Crystallization; Current measurement; Electrical resistance measurement; Phase change materials; Phase change memory; Temperature dependence; Temperature distribution; Temperature measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electronics, Circuits and Systems, 2008. ICECS 2008. 15th IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

St. Julien´s

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2181-7

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2182-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICECS.2008.4674822

Filename

4674822