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X-Ray spectromicroscopy investigation of soft and hard breakdown in RRAM devices

X-Ray spectromicroscopy investigation of soft and hard breakdown in RRAM devices
X-Ray spectromicroscopy investigation of soft and hard breakdown in RRAM devices
Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) is considered an attractive candidate for next generation memory devices due to its competitive scalability, low-power operation and high switching speed. The technology however, still faces several challenges that overall prohibit its industrial translation, such as low yields, large switching variability and ultimately hard breakdown due to long term operation or high voltage biasing. The latter issue is of particular interest because ultimately leads to device failure. In this work, we have investigated the physicochemical changes that occur within RRAM devices as a consequence of soft and hard breakdown by combining full-field transmission X-ray microscopy with soft X-ray spectroscopic analysis performed on lamella samples. The high lateral resolution of this technique (down to 25 nm) allows investigation of localized nanometric areas underneath permanent damages of the metal top electrode. Results show that devices after hard breakdown present discontinuity in the active layer, Pt inclusions and formation of crystalline phases such as rutile which indicates that the temperature increased locally up to 1000 K
0957-4484
1-12
Carta, Daniela
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Guttmann, Peter
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Regoutz, Anna
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Khiat, Ali
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Serb, Alexander
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Gupta, Isha
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Mehonic, Adnan
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Buckwell, Mark
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Hudziak, Steven
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Kenyon, Anthony
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Prodromakis, Themis
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Carta, Daniela
120de978-2aaa-4b4d-bf5f-3625c503040d
Guttmann, Peter
ba7d6f2e-60ea-41d9-9aae-24eba5b25059
Regoutz, Anna
5f9fa784-fea8-42f9-949f-4fe7a908f8ce
Khiat, Ali
bf549ddd-5356-4a7d-9c12-eb6c0d904050
Serb, Alexander
30f5ec26-f51d-42b3-85fd-0325a27a792c
Gupta, Isha
11f9ea1a-e38a-45d4-930d-96ac78b3d734
Mehonic, Adnan
c83b81bf-eb57-45af-909c-164a1d60bbeb
Buckwell, Mark
b48b9afc-afe0-4f1a-bc4c-e3aee74e321f
Hudziak, Steven
050d8df1-2395-4f5a-a265-ea5f4e9e6a53
Kenyon, Anthony
b8d2ca43-8e9e-4fce-ac53-838eb5f7932d
Prodromakis, Themis
d58c9c10-9d25-4d22-b155-06c8437acfbf

Carta, Daniela, Guttmann, Peter, Regoutz, Anna, Khiat, Ali, Serb, Alexander, Gupta, Isha, Mehonic, Adnan, Buckwell, Mark, Hudziak, Steven, Kenyon, Anthony and Prodromakis, Themis (2016) X-Ray spectromicroscopy investigation of soft and hard breakdown in RRAM devices. Nanotechnology, 27 (34), 1-12. (doi:10.1088/0957-4484/27/34/345705).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) is considered an attractive candidate for next generation memory devices due to its competitive scalability, low-power operation and high switching speed. The technology however, still faces several challenges that overall prohibit its industrial translation, such as low yields, large switching variability and ultimately hard breakdown due to long term operation or high voltage biasing. The latter issue is of particular interest because ultimately leads to device failure. In this work, we have investigated the physicochemical changes that occur within RRAM devices as a consequence of soft and hard breakdown by combining full-field transmission X-ray microscopy with soft X-ray spectroscopic analysis performed on lamella samples. The high lateral resolution of this technique (down to 25 nm) allows investigation of localized nanometric areas underneath permanent damages of the metal top electrode. Results show that devices after hard breakdown present discontinuity in the active layer, Pt inclusions and formation of crystalline phases such as rutile which indicates that the temperature increased locally up to 1000 K

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Accepted/In Press date: 13 June 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 15 July 2016
Published date: 15 July 2016
Organisations: Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 398741
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/398741
ISSN: 0957-4484
PURE UUID: 6d45b457-0104-481a-9f97-a32a8d9477e2
ORCID for Themis Prodromakis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6267-6909

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Date deposited: 01 Aug 2016 10:57
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 01:40

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Contributors

Author: Daniela Carta
Author: Peter Guttmann
Author: Anna Regoutz
Author: Ali Khiat
Author: Alexander Serb
Author: Isha Gupta
Author: Adnan Mehonic
Author: Mark Buckwell
Author: Steven Hudziak
Author: Anthony Kenyon
Author: Themis Prodromakis ORCID iD

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