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Applied Physics Letters / Volume 95 / Issue 4 / NANOSCALE SCIENCE AND DESIGN
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Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 043108 (2009); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3191670 (3 pages)

Nanosecond switching in GeTe phase change memory cells

G. Bruns1, P. Merkelbach1, C. Schlockermann1, M. Salinga1, M. Wuttig1, T. D. Happ2, J. B. Philipp3, and M. Kund3

1I. Physikalisches Institut (IA), RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany
2Qimonda Dresden GmbH &. Co. OHG, Königsbrücker Strasse 180, 01099 Dresden, Germany
3Qimonda AG, Bibergerstr. 93, 82008 Unterhaching, Germany

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(Received 4 February 2009; accepted 9 July 2009; published online 28 July 2009)

The electrical switching behavior of GeTe-based phase change memory devices is characterized by time resolved experiments. SET pulses with a duration of less than 16 ns are shown to crystallize the material. Depending on the resistance of the RESET state, the minimum SET pulse duration can even be reduced down to 1 ns. This finding is attributed to the increasing impact of crystal growth upon decreasing switchable volume. Using GeTe or materials with similar crystal growth velocities, hence promises nonvolatile phase change memories with dynamic random access memorylike switching speeds.

© 2009 American Institute of Physics

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

DRAM chips, germanium compounds, nanotechnology, phase change memories, switching

PACS

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3191670

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0003-6951 (print)  
1077-3118 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

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Figures (click on thumbnails to view enlargements)

FIG.1
Cell resistance vs pulse current for applied reset and set pulses in the range from 1 to 16 ns.

FIG.1 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.2
Time resolved measurement of the pulse current. The pulse generator output was programmed to 1.2 V and pulse lengths were varied between 1 and 16 ns. With increasing pulse length the maximum current increases and saturates at 0.7 mA. Grey boxes indicate the pulse length.

FIG.2 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.3
Cell resistance after application of set pulses with different amplitude and length, each starting from the amorphous reset state. The color of each data point represents the cell resistance after the test pulse. For pulses longer than 4 ns a broad crystallization window opens between 1.0 and 1.5 V.

FIG.3 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint

FIG.4
The crystallization behavior of GeTe was tested for four different reset states (Same color code as in Fig. 3). Top: current vs pulse length. Moderate currents (<0.9 mA) can crystallize the cell while higher currents (>1.1 mA) reamorphize the cell. Bottom: voltage vs pulse length. The lower border (from red to blue) shows how the threshold voltage depends on the reset resistance.

FIG.4 Download High Resolution Image (.zip file) | Export Figure to PowerPoint



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