Engineering Thermal and Electrical Interface Properties of Phase Change Memory with Monolayer MoS2

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that combining filamentary contacts with monolayer MoS2 thermal confinement significantly reduces the power consumption of phase change memory devices, with potential for further improvements through interface optimization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach of using monolayer MoS2 for thermal confinement in PCM, achieving substantial power reduction and providing insights for further interface optimization.

Findings

70% reduction in reset current with filamentary contacts

Additional 30% reduction in switching power with MoS2 interface

Simulations suggest up to six-fold power efficiency improvement

Abstract

Phase change memory (PCM) is an emerging data storage technology, however its programming is thermal in nature and typically not energy-efficient. Here we reduce the switching power of PCM through the combined approaches of filamentary contacts and thermal confinement. The filamentary contact is formed through an oxidized TiN layer on the bottom electrode, and thermal confinement is achieved using a monolayer semiconductor interface, three-atom thick MoS2. The former reduces the switching volume of the phase change material and yields a 70% reduction in reset current versus typical 150 nm diameter mushroom cells. The enhanced thermal confinement achieved with the ultra-thin (~6 {\AA}) MoS2 yields an additional 30% reduction in switching current and power. We also use detailed simulations to show that further tailoring the electrical and thermal interfaces of such PCM cells toward their fundamental limits could lead up to a six-fold benefit in power efficiency.