AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition
    Electronic Materials and Photonics Tuesday Sessions
       Session EM+MI+MN-TuA

Paper EM+MI+MN-TuA11
Reduction of Radiation Damage to HfOx-Based Resistive Random Access Memory using a Thin ALD HfOx Film

Tuesday, November 8, 2016, 5:40 pm, Room 102A

Session: New Materials and Devices for Emerging Memory Technologies
Presenter: Kai-wen Hsu, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Authors: K. Hsu, University of Wisconsin-Madison
T. Chang, University of Wisconsin-Madison
L. Zhao, Stanford University
Z. Wang, Stanford University
R. Agasie, University of Wisconsin-Madison
T. Betthauser, University of Wisconsin-Madison
J. Nickles, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Z. Ma, University of Wisconsin-Madison
J. Chang, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Y. Nishi, Stanford University
J.L. Shohet, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Correspondent: Click to Email
Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) [1], is considered to be a very promising memory technology for the next generation of computer memory, It has undergone intense research in both industry and academia in the last ten years. As RRAM technology matures and electronic devices using RRAM are likely to be built soon, a RRAM cell which is resistant to radiation will become an important topic in industry to prevent the malfunction of these devices. In this work, neutron and proton-induced effects on two types of RRAM cells are investigated. Type 1 HfOx RRAM cell is different from the Type 2 RRAM cell in two aspects, (1) the thickness of the HfOx film (Type 1 is thicker than Type 2) and (2) the fabrication process for depositing the HfOx within the RRAM cell. (Type 1 uses spin-on technology and Type 2 uses ALD technology)

Many Type 1 RRAM cells can be formed under neutron irradiation and end up in the LRS. On the other hand, unformed neutron-irradiated Type 1 RRAM cells only require a lower voltage to form. In addition, the resistance of the HRS increased on the Type 1 RRAM cell. The shift in values of the set voltage can be seen on the I-V characteristic of the neutron-irradiated Type 1 RRAM cell. A similar increase in the resistance of HRS is also observed in proton-irradiated Type 1 RRAM cells. The shift in values of the set voltage can be seen on the I-V characteristic of the proton-irradiated Type 1 RRAM cell.

There are no obvious changes to Type 2 RRAM cells after either neutron or proton irradiation. It is very likely that both the changes in thickness and fabrication are very important since these two modifications can cut down on the number of defects which affect the switching mechanism of the RRAM cell.

This work was supported by the Semiconductor Research Corporation under Contract No. 2012-KJ-2359, by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CBET-1066231.

[1] H.-S. Philip Wong, H-Y Lee, S. Yu, Y. S. Chen, Y. Wu, P-S Chen, B. Lee, F. T. Chen, and M-J Tsai, “Metal–oxide RRAM,” Proceedings of the IEEE 100 1951 (2012).