Nucleation switching in phase change memory

Abstract

The authors propose a simple physical model of threshold switching in phase change memory cells based on the field induced nucleation of conductive cylindrical crystallites. The model is solved analytically and leads to a number of predictions including correlations between the threshold voltage Vth and material parameters, such as the nucleation barrier and radius, amorphous layer thickness, as well as Vth versus temperature and switching delay time. The authors have carried out verifying experiments, and good agreement is achieved.