Micron Technology Incorporated

Intel Corporation

Stmicroelectronics S.r.l.

Mario Allegra

Innocenzo Tortorelli

Mattia Boniardi

Mattia Robustelli

Fabio Pellizzer

Andrea Redaelli

Agostino Pirovano

Paolo Fantini

Richard Keith Dodge

Marco Sforzin

Paolo Amato

Anna Maria Conti

Innocenzo Totorelli

A phase-change memory cell includes a heater, a memory region made of a phase-change material located above said heater, and an electrically conductive element positioned adjacent to the memory region and the heater at a first side of the heater. The electrically conductive element extends parallel to a first axis and has, parallel to the first axis, a first dimension at the first side that is greater than a second dimension at a second side opposite to the first side.

Phase-change memory cell with asymmetric structure, a memory device including the phase-change memory cell, and a method for manufacturing the phase-change memory cell

Methods, systems, and devices for adaptive write operations for a memory device are described. In an example, the described techniques may include identifying a quantity of access operations performed on a memory array, modifying one or more parameters for a write operation based on the identified quantity of access operations, and writing logic states to the memory array by performing the write operation according to the one or more modified parameters. In some examples, the memory array may include memory cells associated with a configurable material element, such as a chalcogenide material, that stores a logic state based on a material property of the material element. In some examples, the described techniques may at least partially compensate for a change in memory material properties due to aging or other degradation or changes over time (e.g., due to accumulated access operations).

Adaptive write operations for a memory device

Methods, systems, devices, and other implementations to store fuse data in memory devices are described. Some implementations may include an array of memory cells with different portions of cells for storing data. A first portion of the array may store fuse data and may contain a chalcogenide storage element, while a second portion of the array may store user data. Sense circuitry may be coupled with the array, and may determine the value of the fuse data using various signaling techniques. In some cases, the sense circuitry may implement differential storage and differential signaling to determine the value of the fuse data stored in the first portion of the array.

Implementations to store fuse data in memory devices

Methods, systems, and devices related to techniques to access a self-selecting memory device are described. A self-selecting memory cell may store one or more bits of data represented by different threshold voltages of the self-selecting memory cell. A programming pulse may be varied to establish the different threshold voltages by modifying one or more time durations during which a fixed level of voltage or current is maintained across the self-selecting memory cell. The self-selecting memory cell may include a chalcogenide alloy. A non-uniform distribution of an element in the chalcogenide alloy may determine a particular threshold voltage of the self-selecting memory cell. The shape of the programming pulse may be configured to modify a distribution of the element in the chalcogenide alloy based on a desired logic state of the self-selecting memory cell.

Techniques to access a self-selecting memory device

A memory cell can include a chalcogenide material configured in an annular shape or a chalcogenide material substantially circumscribing an interior conductive channel. Such memory cells can be included in memory structures having an interior conductive channel and a plurality of alternating dielectric layers and memory layers oriented along the interior conductive channel. Individual memory layers can include a chalcogenide material substantially circumscribing the interior conductive channel.

Chalcogenide-based memory architecture

In an example, a first data structure can be read with a first read voltage dedicated to the first data structure. A second data structure that stores a larger quantity of data than the first data structure can be with a second read voltage that is dedicated to the second data structure. The first data structure can be with a third read voltage in response to a quantity of errors in reading the first data structure being greater than or equal to a first threshold quantity. The second data structure can be read with the third read voltage in response to a quantity of errors in reading the second data structure being greater than or equal to a second threshold quantity. The read voltages can be based on a temperature of an apparatus that includes the first and second data structures.

Dedicated read voltages for data structures

Methods, systems, and devices for operating and forming a multilevel memory cell and array are described. A multilevel memory cell includes two or more binary memory elements, which may include phase change material. Each memory element may be programmed to one of two possible states&#x2014;e.g., a fully amorphous state or a fully crystalline state. By combining multiple binary memory elements in a single memory cell, the memory cell may be programmed to store more than two states. The different memory elements may be programmed by selectively melting each memory element. Selective melting may be controlled by using memory elements with different melting temperatures or using electrodes with different electrical resistances, or both.

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Milan, Italy

Mario Allegra