Grain Boundaries, Phase Impurities, and Anisotropic Thermal Conduction in Phase-Change Memory

被引：16

作者：

Li, Zijian ^{[1
]}

Lee, Jaeho ^{[1
]}

Reifenberg, John P. ^{[2
]}

Asheghi, Mehdi ^{[1
]}

Jeyasingh, Rakesh G. D. ^{[3
]}

Wong, H. -S. Philip ^{[3
]}

Goodson, Kenneth E. ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Stanford Univ, Dept Mech Engn, Stanford, CA 94305 USA

[2] Intel Corp, Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA

[3] Stanford Univ, Dept Elect Engn, Stanford, CA 94305 USA

来源：

IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS | 2011年 / 32卷 / 07期

基金：

美国国家科学基金会;

关键词：

Chalcogenide; nonvolatile memories; phase-change memory (PCM); thermal conductivity anisotropy;

D O I：

10.1109/LED.2011.2150193

中图分类号：

TM [电工技术]; TN [电子技术、通信技术];

学科分类号：

0808 ; 0809 ;

摘要：

Thermal conduction strongly influences the programming energy and speed in phase-change-memory devices. The thermal conductivity of the crystalline phase of Ge2Sb2Te5 can be strongly anisotropic due to phase impurities at grain boundaries. This letter models this effect using effective medium arguments, lends further support to the hypothesis that phase impurities are responsible for the anisotropy, and estimates the impact of anisotropic heat conduction on device performance. Electrothermal simulations predict that the reduced in-plane conductivity will allow closer spacing of lateral-cell devices and reduce the reset programming current by 20%-30%.

引用

页码：961 / 963

页数：3

共 18 条

[1] CONDUCTION IN ANISOTROPIC DISORDERED SYSTEMS - EFFECTIVE-MEDIUM THEORY [J].