A physics-based compact model for phase-change memory considering the ratio of vertical-to-lateral crystal growth rate for the design of cross-point storage-class memory

Abstract A physics-based compact model for phase-change random access memory (PcRAM) was proposed considering the ratio of vertical-to-lateral crystal growth rate (α) and it was incorporated into HSPICE via Verilog-A. The proposed model was verified by using the experimental results taken from the 256 × 256 cross-point (X-point) PcRAM cell array with the Ge2Sb2Te5 2z-nm technology node. The proposed compact model successfully reproduced the measured PcRAM cell resistance (RC) depending on the SET pulse width and amplitude after a background RESET, which is a challenging issue in the X-point PcRAM as the promising candidate for a modern storage-class memory in perspective of the write latency and power consumption, without heavy computational burden while capturing the essence of physical meaning via the multi-domain simulation which includes the threshold switching, electrical, thermal, and phase-change modules. Extracted α value was 1.55. Furthermore, it was found that the SET pulse-dependent abrupt/gradual change of RC is sensitive to α. It suggests that α should be carefully optimized for the PCM-based neuromorphic applications.