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The Design and Application on Interfacial Phase‐Change Memory
Author(s) -
Tominaga Junji
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201800539
Subject(s) - phase change memory , amorphous solid , materials science , joule heating , shape memory alloy , thermodynamics , nanotechnology , condensed matter physics , composite material , physics , chemistry , crystallography , layer (electronics)
Intel and Micron Technology successfully shipped phase‐change memory (PCM) to the market in 2017, as Storage Class Memory (SCM). The switching mechanism of PCM relies on a structural phase‐change of a GeSbTe alloy that generates a large difference on electric resistance in between the amorphous and crystalline states. To form the amorphous state, it needs a Joule heating to heat a memory cell once up to the melting point (>900 K) followed by rapid‐quenching. However, due to the second law of thermodynamics, more than a half of the Joule energy injected to a memory cell is not used for the switching, releasing as an entropy loss. Interfacial phase‐change memory (iPCM) was invented to improve the problem in 2008. In this review, the model concepts until the completion of iPCM devices are first reviewed. Second the device performance is discussed including intermixing issues, and finally, new functionalities related to topological insulator are explained as the future perspective.