R&D: Modeling Gradual RESET of PCM With Confined Geometry

IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices has published an article written by Feilong Ding, Yanxin Jiao, Baokang Peng, Hao Li, School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Peking University, Shenzhen, China, Wenchao Liu, Primarius Technologies, Guangzhou, China, Lining Zhang, School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Peking University, Shenzhen, China,Runsheng Wang, and Ru Huang, School of Integrated Circuits, Peking University, Beijing, China.

Abstract: “This work develops a model of the temperature and resistance for the RESET of confined phase change memory (PCM). The confined PCM, unlike the mushroom type, has heating inside the cell and higher resistance sensitivity to active region size. The ideal temperature profile is derived from a steady-state heat conduction formulation based on a quasi-3D approach. A thermal subcircuit is then proposed to implement the heating module, considering the thermoelectric effect (TEE) and temperature dependence of phase change materials, to obtain the active region size. The resistance of the irregular active region is then calculated using an integral method. Calibrated TCAD simulations and experimental data are used to verify the model with desired scalability and accuracy.“