Program and read scaling trade-offs in phase change memories

J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2011 Dec;11(12):10470-5. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2011.3969.

Abstract

This paper investigates the scaling perspectives of Phase Change Memory technology by analyzing the effects of geometrical dimensions reduction and the read voltage scaling on program and read operations. To this end, we derive analytical expressions which allow us to estimate the dependence of the RESET and read current on key geometrical parameters of the memory cell, such as heater size and chalcogenide layer thickness.