Sadi Toufik, Mehonic Adnan, Montesi Luca, Buckwell Mark, Kenyon Anthony, Asenov Asen
School of Engineering, Electronic and Nanoscale Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, United Kingdom. Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, PO Box 12200, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland.
J Phys Condens Matter. 2018 Feb 28;30(8):084005. doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/aaa7c1.
We employ an advanced three-dimensional (3D) electro-thermal simulator to explore the physics and potential of oxide-based resistive random-access memory (RRAM) cells. The physical simulation model has been developed recently, and couples a kinetic Monte Carlo study of electron and ionic transport to the self-heating phenomenon while accounting carefully for the physics of vacancy generation and recombination, and trapping mechanisms. The simulation framework successfully captures resistance switching, including the electroforming, set and reset processes, by modeling the dynamics of conductive filaments in the 3D space. This work focuses on the promising yet less studied RRAM structures based on silicon-rich silica (SiO ) RRAMs. We explain the intrinsic nature of resistance switching of the SiO layer, analyze the effect of self-heating on device performance, highlight the role of the initial vacancy distributions acting as precursors for switching, and also stress the importance of using 3D physics-based models to capture accurately the switching processes. The simulation work is backed by experimental studies. The simulator is useful for improving our understanding of the little-known physics of SiO resistive memory devices, as well as other oxide-based RRAM systems (e.g. transition metal oxide RRAMs), offering design and optimization capabilities with regard to the reliability and variability of memory cells.
我们采用先进的三维（3D）电热模拟器来探究基于氧化物的电阻式随机存取存储器（RRAM）单元的物理特性和潜力。物理模拟模型是最近开发的，它将电子和离子输运的动力学蒙特卡罗研究与自热现象相结合，同时仔细考虑了空位产生与复合的物理过程以及俘获机制。该模拟框架通过对三维空间中导电细丝的动力学进行建模，成功捕捉到了电阻切换，包括电形成、设置和重置过程。这项工作聚焦于基于富硅二氧化硅（SiO ）RRAM的有前景但研究较少的RRAM结构。我们解释了SiO 层电阻切换的内在本质，分析了自热对器件性能的影响，强调了初始空位分布作为切换前驱体的作用，还强调了使用基于三维物理的模型来准确捕捉切换过程的重要性。模拟工作得到了实验研究的支持。该模拟器有助于增进我们对鲜为人知的SiO 电阻式存储器件物理特性的理解，以及对其他基于氧化物的RRAM系统（如过渡金属氧化物RRAM）的理解，在存储单元的可靠性和可变性方面提供设计和优化能力。
