Tag: PCRAM

Extending the Write/Erase Lifetime of Phase Change Memory: Part 2 – A More Complete View of Element Separation

Ron NealeThis is Part 2 of a short Memory Guy series in which contributor Ron Neale continues to explore the possible future impact on PCM memory performance, especially write/erase endurance, building on the results of the IBM/Yale University analysis outlined in Part 1.

After, in Part 1, summarizing the methodology my next step was to try to bring together in another simple diagram all the detail of the complexity of  the movement of the different elements of the phase change memory material at different locations within the memory cell which the IBM/Yale work has disclosed. Movement which leads to the conclusion that bi-polar operation would be means of extending PCM endurance.

In this post’s first diagram (below) the central region provides illustration of the paper’s unique PCM device structure: A high aspect ratio tapered cell lined with a metal conductor. With the two-state memory switching region located (red coloured) roughly at the centre of the taper.  This means that, Continue reading “Extending the Write/Erase Lifetime of Phase Change Memory: Part 2 – A More Complete View of Element Separation”

Extending the Write/Erase Lifetime of Phase Change Memory: Part 1- PCM Element Separation and Endurance

Ron NealeThis is the first of a new line-up of Memory Guy posts by Ron Neale.   In this 4-part series Ron takes a look at the recently-published analysis by a team from IBM and Yale University (Wiley: Communications of Advanced Materials, Volume 30, Issue 9, March 1, 2018 “Self-Healing of a Confined Phase Change Memory Device with a Metallic Surfactant Layer,” Xie et al) which has cast some new light on the complexity of the movement and element separation in phase change memory (PCM) device structures.

In this series of articles I will briefly review what I think is an important piece of work and its implications for the future of  PCM write/erase (w/e) endurance in commercial PCM memory arrays. Today’s production Phase-Change Memory, the basis of the Intel/Micron 3D XPoint Memory, wears out faster than expected.  This series will investigate some of the potential reasons for this discrepancy.

Back in 2016 a research team led by IBM claimed the world record for PCM w/e endurance of  greater than 2 x 10E12 cycles (ALD-based Confined PCM with a Metallic Liner Toward Unlimited Endurance, Proc IEDM 2016 ). As of today commercially available PCM memory arrays offer w/e endurance of some six orders of magnitude less.  The table below Continue reading “Extending the Write/Erase Lifetime of Phase Change Memory: Part 1- PCM Element Separation and Endurance”