Scaling of Multi-contact Phase Change Device for Toggle Logic Operations

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the scaling behavior of multi-contact phase change devices capable of toggle logic operations, demonstrating improved performance and non-volatility through electrothermal simulations and thermal crosstalk mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-contact phase change device design utilizing thermal crosstalk for logic operations, with detailed simulation-based analysis of scaling effects.

Findings

Peak current and voltage requirements scale approximately linearly with thickness.

Thermal crosstalk enables analog routing and digital logic with fewer transistors.

Device performance improves as the device thickness is scaled down.

Abstract

Scaling of two dimensional six-contact phase change devices that can perform toggle logic operations is analyzed through 2D electrothermal simulations with dynamic materials modeling, integrated with CMOS access circuitry. Toggle configurations are achieved through a combination of isolation of some contacts from others using amorphous regions and coupling between different regions via thermal crosstalk. Use of thermal crosstalk as a coupling mechanism in a multi-contact device in the memory layer allows implementation of analog routing and digital logic operations at a significantly lower transistor count, with the added benefit of non-volatility. Simulation results show approximately linear improvement in peak current and voltage requirements with thickness scaling.