Characterizing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Radiation Effects in Oxide RRAM Devices
Abstract
The goal of the proposed research is to develop new and improve existing experimental/theoretical techniques and test structures for identifying and characterizing both intrinsic and extrinsic radiation effects in the metal-oxide based resistive random access memory (RRAM). Metal-oxide RRAM is one of the most competitive candidates for future high density non-volatile-memory. RRAM devices are typically organized into array architectures with series transistors or two-terminal selectors. The radiation effects in RRAM devices thus can be classified into two types: the intrinsic effects within the standalone RRAM cells, e.g. ionization or displacement of the resistive switching materials; and the extrinsic effects associated with the series transistors or selectors, e.g. the ionization current generated in the transistors and its disturbance on the RRAM cells’ stability. Phenomena such as Multiple-Event-Upset or Multiple-Bits-Upset occur in the RRAM array due to different mechanisms from the conventional SRAM or DRAM array. The proposed techniques to investigate the radiation effects in RRAM include material characterizations such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and conductive atomic force microscopy tomography, electrical characterizations such as low-frequency noise and random-telegraph-noise measurement for trap/detrap process, Kinetic Monte Carlo modeling, etc. These techniques may be generalized and applied to other emerging non-volatile memory technologies as well. The proposed research aims to gain deeper understanding of the fundamental physics of the radiation effects in the metal-oxide RRAM materials and devices, and provide guidelines for designing radiation-hard non-volatile memory technologies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 26, 2016
- Source ID
- HDTRA11610012
Entities
People
- Shimeng Yu
Organizations
- Arizona State University
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency