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Phase-change memory cycling endurance

  • Phase-Change Materials in Electronics and Photonics
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Abstract

The cycling endurance of phase-change memory is one of the last hurdles to overcome to enable its adoption in the larger market for persistent memory products. Phase-change memory cycling endurance failures, whether they are stuck-SET (caused by elemental segregation) or stuck-RESET (caused by void formation), are caused by atomic migration. Various driving forces responsible for the atomic migration have been identified, such as hole-wind force, electrostatic force, and crystallization-induced segregation. We introduce several strategies to improve cycling endurance based on an understanding of driving forces and interactions among them. Utilizing some of these endurance-improving techniques, record-high phase-change memory cycling endurance at around 1012 cycles has been recently reported using a confined phase-change memory cell with a metallic liner.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea

    SangBum Kim

  2. IBM Research–Almaden, USA

    Geoffrey W. Burr

  3. IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA

    Wanki Kim

  4. School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Republic of Korea

    Sung-Wook Nam

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  1. SangBum Kim
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  2. Geoffrey W. Burr
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  3. Wanki Kim
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  4. Sung-Wook Nam
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Correspondence to SangBum Kim.

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Kim, S., Burr, G.W., Kim, W. et al. Phase-change memory cycling endurance. MRS Bulletin 44, 710–714 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2019.205

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