[paper] Memory Technology – A Primer for Material Scientists.

Schenk, Tony, Milan Pesic, Stefan Slesazeck, Uwe Schroeder, and Thomas Mikolajick

Memory Technology–A Primer for Material Scientists

Reports on Progress in Physics (2020)

Abstract - From our own experience in the group, we know that there is quite a gap to bridge between scientists focused on basic material research and their counterparts in a close-to-application community focused on identifying and solving final technological and engineering challenges. In this review, we try to provide an easy-to-grasp introduction to the field of memory technology for materials scientists. As an understanding of the big picture is vital, we first provide an overview about the development and architecture of memories as part of a computer and point out some basic limitations that all memories are subject to. As any new technology has to compete with mature existing solutions on the market, today's mainstream memories are explained and the need for future solutions is highlighted. The most prominent contenders in the field of emerging memories are introduced and major challenges on their way to commercialization are elucidated. Based on these discussions, we derive some predictions for the memory market to conclude the paper.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. OVERVIEW AND BASIC LIMITATIONS
3. COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE MAINSTREAM MEMORIES

3.1. Static and Dynamic Random Access Memory (SRAM/DRAM)
3.2. Flash Memory and Solid-State Drive (SSD)
3.3. Magnetic Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Magnetic Tapes
3.4. Outlook: Market Trends and Drivers

4. EMERGING MEMORIES

4.1. Resistance-based Read-out: Memory Concepts and Basic Considerations
4.2. Anion migration or valence change memory (VCM)
4.3. Cation migration or electrochemical metallization memory (ECM)
4.4. Phase change memory (PCM)
4.5. Magnetoresistive memory (MRM)
4.6. Ferroelectric Memory (FEM)
4.7. Miscellaneous

5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

FIG: Evolution of the mainstream solutions for the respective memories classes. The introduction of Flash memory partially bridged a technology gap around the year 2009. Today, two types of so-called storage-class memories – a memory-type SCM (SCM 1) and a storage-type SCM (SCM 2) – were proposed to overcome the memory gap. NAND flash already fulfills the role of a mainstream SCM 2. For SCM 1, 3D XPoint could be a promising candidate, but is not a dominant mainstream memory. In future, we will likely see different types of SCMs and NV-RAM with different specifications as required by the respective application – because in the end, the overall system cost decides about the choice of the memory.

Leti Workshop at SISPAD 2019

Leti is pleased to invite you to attend our ‘Advanced Simulations for Emerging Non-Volatile Memory Technologies’ seminar, which is organized as an official satellite event of the 2019 IEEE SISPAD Conference (http://www.sispad2019.org). By the proposed seminar, we will emphasize how simulation and modeling support memory technology developments and device behavior understanding.

This event will held on Tuesday, September 3rd from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM, Palazzo di Toppo Wassermann, Università degli Studi di Udine, Udine, Italy (i.e. at the SISPAD 2019 conference location).

PROGRAM

• Welcome and Introduction – T. Poiroux
• Innovative non-volatile memory technologies: a revolution for the storage towards a memory that thinks – G. Navarro
• Electro-thermal and material simulations for PCM – O. Cueto
• Multiphase field method for the simulation of the complex phase changes in PCM – R. Bayle
• Invited talk: Self-consistent TCAD simulation of chemical reactions within electronic devices. Application to CBRAM and OxRAM – Silvaco
• Networking cocktail

Registration is free but, due to limited seats, please register just sending an email to thierry.poiroux@cea.fr and sebastien.martinie@cea.fr.

Feel free to share this invite with your colleagues !

[paper] Review of physics-based compact models for emerging nonvolatile memories

Nuo Xu¹, Pai-Yu Chen², Jing Wang¹, Woosung Choi¹, Keun-Ho Lee³, Eun Seung Jung³, Shimeng Yu²

Review of physics-based compact models for emerging nonvolatile memories

¹Device Lab, Samsung Semiconductor Inc., San Jose, CA 95134, USA

²School of ECEE, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA

³Semiconductor R&D Center, Samsung Electronics, Hwasung-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

Journal of Computational Electronics, 2017, pp. 1-13

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10825-017-1098-0

Abstract: A generic compact modeling methodology for emerging nonvolatile memories is proposed by coupling comprehensive physical equations from multiple domains (e.g., electrical, thermal, magnetic, phase transitions). This concept has been applied to three most promising emerging memory candidates: PCM, STT-MRAM, and RRAM to study their device physics as well as to evaluate their circuit-level performance. The models’ good predictability to experiments and their effectiveness in large-scale circuit simulation suggest their unique role in emerging memory research and development [read more...]

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10825-017-1098-0