Programming Characteristics of Phase Change Random Access Memory Using Phase Change Simulations

We present a new simulation methodology for analyzing programming characteristics of a chalcogenide based phase-change device, phase change random access memory (PRAM), which is a next-generation non-volatile memory. Using the new simulation methodology, we analyze the initialization of chalcogenide material (ICM) of the mechanism and propose the next generation PRAM scheme. From the results of the phase change simulation, the process conditions for ICM for stable operation are presented. Also, the self-heating confined structure to overcome the inherent limitation of high operation power is proposed that resolves the operating power limitation associated with PRAM development.