Jinghan Huang, Hyungyo Kim, et al.
MICRO 2025
While phase change memory (PCM) is one of the most mature resistive memory technologies, innovations are still needed to reduce the relatively high programming current. At a structural level, PCM cell designs attempt to reduce this write energy by either minimizing the contact area of one electrode (e.g., mushroom cell) or by minimizing the phase-change material volume (e.g., bridge/line cell), but it has been challenging to continue to scale these techniques while maintaining manufacturability. Here, we introduce a PCM disc-type cell that accomplishes both volume minimization using an ultra-thin phase-change material and contact area minimization using the heater of a mushroom cell. Using finite-element method simulation and experimental validation, we show that this disc-type PCM cell offers superior programming performance, conductance tunability, and improved retention characteristics. This novel PCM device architecture provides a platform to further engineer electrical characteristics and leverage the unique properties of ultrathin phase-change material films, making it a promising candidate for emerging applications such as analog in-memory computing.
Jinghan Huang, Hyungyo Kim, et al.
MICRO 2025
Irem Boybat-Kara
IEDM 2023
Laura Bégon-Lours, Mattia Halter, et al.
MRS Spring Meeting 2023
Ying Zhou, Gi-Joon Nam, et al.
DAC 2023