Simulation of Proposed Confined-Chalcogenide Phase-Change Random Access Memory for Low Reset Current by Finite Element Modelling

Abstract

A confined-chalcogenide (CC) cell structure for reducing the reset current of phase-change random access memory (PRAM) is proposed in this investigation. Both single normal-bottom-contact (NBC) (for reference) and proposed CC PRAM cells are simulated by two-dimensional finite element modelling. The simulated amorphous region of the NBC cell after reset operation is generally a semiellipse, which agrees very well with the reported experimental results. The CC cell has a rectangular amorphous region after reset operation. The reset operation current of the CC cell is much lower than that of the NBC cell. The CC cell structure needs a low reset current and a low power consumption and has a simple configuration.