Intel Corporation

Micron Technology Incorporated

Davide Fugazza

Fabio Pellizzer

Agostino Pirovano

Anna Maria Conti

Johannes A Kalb

Derchang Kau

Davide Mantegazza

Kiran Pangal

Prashant S Damle

Andrea Redaelli

Stephen W Russell

Pengyuan Zheng

Gerard H Joyce

Srivatsan Venkatesan

Dany-Sebastien Ly-Gagnon

John Gorman

Yao Jin

Iniyan Soundappa Elango

Yongiun J Hu

A memory device including a three dimensional crosspoint memory array comprising memory cells each comprising two terminals and a storage element programmable to one of a plurality of program states each representing distinct values for at least two bits; and access circuitry to apply a first program pulse with a positive polarity across the two terminals of a first memory cell of the memory cells to program the first memory cell to a first program state of the program states; and apply a second program pulse with a negative polarity across the two terminals of the first memory cell to program the first memory cell to a second program state of the program states.

Multi-level memory programming and readout

Various embodiments of a three-dimensional cross-point (3D X-point) memory cell design include one or more electrodes having an increased resistance compared to existing memory cell designs or compared to other electrodes within a same memory cell. A memory device includes an array of memory cells with each memory cell arranged between a word line and a bit line of the memory device. Some embodiments include additional material layers to increase memory cell resistance. Some embodiments include electrodes having an increased thickness to increase the resistance. Some embodiments include electrodes having a composition with a higher resistivity. Some embodiments include electrodes with increased interface resistance. Some embodiments include a combination of such features. In any case, the resulting increased memory cell resistance causes a reduction in the transient selection current for the given memory cell.

Memory device with increased electrode resistance to reduce transient selection current

Various embodiments disclosed herein comprise methods and apparatuses for placing phase-change memory (PCM) cells of a memory array into a temperature regime where nucleation probability of the PCM cells is enhanced prior to applying a subsequent SET programming signal. In one embodiment, the method includes applying a nucleation signal to the PCM cells to form nucleation sites within the memory array where the nucleation signal has a non-zero rising-edge. A programming signal is subsequently applied to achieve a desired level of crystallinity within selected ones of the plurality of PCM cells. Additional methods and apparatuses are also described.

Enhancing nucleation in phase-change memory cells

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe techniques and configurations for word-line path isolation in a phase change memory (PCM) device. In an embodiment, a method includes increasing a current through a memory cell of a phase change memory (PCM) device, wherein the memory cell is coupled with a capacitor and subsequent to said increasing the current, generating a transient current through the memory cell by discharge of the capacitor to reset the memory cell. In another embodiment, a method includes increasing a current through a memory cell of a phase change memory (PCM) device and controlling the current to be greater than a threshold current and lower than a hold current of the memory cell to set the memory cell. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Set and reset operation in phase change memory and associated techniques and configurations

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Davide Fugazza