Life-time degradation of STT-MRAM by self-heating effect with TDDB model

•Considered the temperature rise of MTJ in parallel state and anti-parallel state.•Considered the TDDB model in parallel and anti-parallel states.•Considered self-heating effects in the TDDB model. Spin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) is one of the most promising candidates for “universal memory” with the ultra-fast access speed, radiation resistance and theoretically unlimited endurance. However, there are many practical aspects that could degrade the life-time of STT-MRAM. In this paper, degradation on the life-time of the STT-MTJ device is observed experimentally, which is attributed to the so-called “self-heating effect” of the device. Simulation on the device is conducted on the self-heating effect to obtain the internal temperature inside the device. The self-heating effect of the STT-MTJ device is analyzed and its influence on the life-time degradation of the STT-MTJ is included in the time dependent dielectric breakdown model (TDDB, 1/E model). This inclusion should improve the accuracy of the estimation on the life-time.