Low Power Phase Change Memory With Vertical Carbon Nanotube Electrode

• Main Authors: Panni Wang, Yihan Chen, Suwen Li, Salahuddin Raju, Longyan Wang, Lining Zhang, Xinnan Lin, Zhitang Song, Mansun Chan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2017-01-01
• Series: IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society
• Subjects: Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST); phase change memory (PCM); carbon nanotube (CNT)
• Online Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8000557/
• ISSN: 2168-6734

Phase change memory (PCM) formed by Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) on vertical carbon nanotube (CNT) filled contact plug is demonstrated in this paper. In order to achieve compatibility with the underlying process, the CNTs are synthesized using nickel catalyst at a low temperature. Reasonable contact characteristics between the CNTs and GST are achieved without material compatibility problem. Due to the small contact size of the CNT to the phase change material, a significant reduction in programming power is achieved compared to metal contact at the same via size. The temperature simulation result shows that the CNT filled via helps to reduce the programming area. The fabricated PCM on CNT filled via is able to endure more than 10⁴ SET/RESET cycles without observable degradation.