Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.

Ovonyx Inc.

Intel Corporation

Ovonic Synthetic Materials Company Inc.

Sovonics Solar Systems

Other

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Elpida Memory, Inc.

Ovonic Imaging Systems, Inc.

Ovonic Synthetic Materials, Inc.

Stephen J Hudgens

Stanford R Ovshinsky

Tyler A Lowrey

Annette G Johncock

Guy Charles Wicker

David D Allred

Wolodymyr Czubatyj

Patrick K Klersy

Charles H Dennison

David A Strand

Lee Walter

Prem Nath

Sergey A Kostylev

Joachim Doehler

Chi C Yang

Patrick J Klersy

Jeffrey M Krisko

Lester R Peedin

Ralph Mohr

Gregory Demaggio

Fabio Pellizzer

Agostino Pirovano

Roger W Pryor

Jon Maimon

Benjamin S Chao

George A Gordon

Annette J Krisko

Hellmut Fritzsche

Russell C Custer

Jesus Gonzalez-Hernandez

Carl Hugh Schell

Quiyi Ye

Isamu Asano

Ward D Parkinson

Hideki Horii

Vincent D Cannella

Masatsugu Izu

Roberto Bez

Chien Chiang

Natsuki Sato

Giulio Casagrande

Soon-Oh Park

Robert R Johnson

Daniel Xu

Dong-ho Ahn

Hee-Ju Shin

Qiuyi Ye

Young-Hyun Kim

Brian G Johnson

Buddie R Dotter, Ii

Jin-ho Oh

Jonathan D Maimon

Carl Schell

Edward J Spall

Kevin Dean

Arnold Register

Ronald G Mulberger

Marc A Kastner

Robert Burkhardt

Robert S Nolan

Buddie Dotter Ii

In accordance with some embodiments, a phase change memory may be formed in which the thermal conductivity in the region outside the programmed volume of phase change material is reduced. This may reduce the power consumption of the resulting phase change memory. The reduction in power consumption may be achieved by forming distinct layers of phase change material that have little or no mixing between them outside the programmed volume. In one embodiment, a face centered cubic chalcogenide structure may be utilized.

Semiconductor phase change memory using face center cubic crystalline phase change material

A phase change material may be processed to reduce its microcrystalline grain size and may also be processed to increase the crystallization or set programming speed of the material. For example, material doped with nitrogen to reduce grain size may be doped with titanium to reduce crystallization time.

Processing phase change material to improve programming speed

In accordance with some embodiments, a phase change memory may be formed in which the thermal conductivity in the region outside the programmed volume of phase change material is reduced. This may reduce the power consumption of the resulting phase change memory. The reduction in power consumption may be achieved by forming distinct layers of phase change material that have little or no mixing between them outside the programmed volume. For example, in one embodiment, a diffusion barrier layer may be maintained between the two distinct phase change layers. In another embodiment, a face centered cubic chalcogenide structure may be utilized.

Semiconductor phase change memory using multiple phase change layers

A non-volatile memory device including a phase-change material, which has a low operating voltage and low power consumption, includes a lower electrode; a phase-change material layer formed on the lower electrode so as to be electrically connected to the lower electrode, wherein the phase-change material layer includes a phase-change material having a composition represented by SnSbTeor, alternatively with substitutions, in whole or in part, of silicon and/or indium for tin, arsenic and/or bismuth for antimony, and selenium for tellurium; and an upper electrode formed on the phase-change material layer so as to be electrically connected to the phase-change material layer. Here, 0.001&#x2266;X&#x2266;0.3, 0.001&#x2266;Y&#x2266;0.8, 0.1&#x2266;Z&#x2266;0.8, and X+Y+Z=1.

Non-volatile memory device including phase-change material

Semiconductor phast change memory using multiple phase change layers

A phase change memory may be made with improved speed and stable characteristics over extended cycling. The alloy may be selected by looking at alloys that become stuck in either the set or the reset state and finding a median or intermediate composition that achieves better cycling performance. Such alloys may also experience faster programming and may have set and reset programming speeds that are substantially similar.

Phase change memories with improved programming characteristics

A non-volatile memory element includes a first interlayer insulation layerhaving a first through-hole, a second interlayer insulation layerhaving a second through-holeformed on the first interlayer insulation layer, a bottom electrodeprovided in the first through-hole, recording layercontaining phase change material provided in the second through-hole, a top electrodeprovided on the second interlayer insulation layer, and a thin-film insulation layerformed between the bottom electrodeand the recording layer. In accordance with this invention, the diameter Dof a bottom electrodeburied in a first through-holeis smaller than the diameter Dof a second through-hole, thereby decreasing the thermal capacity of the bottom electrode. Therefore, when a poreis formed by dielectric breakdown in a thin-film insulation layerand the vicinity is used as a heating region, the amount of heat escaping to the bottom electrodeis decreased, resulting in higher heating efficiency.

Electrically rewritable non-volatile memory element and method of manufacturing the same

An electrically programmable memory element comprising a programmable resistance material and an electrical contact. The electrical contact having at least two portion wherein the first portion has a higher resistivity than the second portion.

Programmable resistance memory element with multi-regioned contact

A method for programming a phase change memory cell is discussed. A phase change memory cell includes a memory element of a phase change material having a first state, in which the phase change material is crystalline and has a minimum resistance level, a second state in which the phase change material is amorphous and has a maximum resistance level, and a plurality of intermediate states, in which the phase change material includes both crystalline regions and amorphous regions and has intermediate resistance levels. According to the method, a plurality of programming pulses are provided to the phase change memory cell; programming energies respectively associated to the programming pulses are lower than a threshold energy which is required to bring the phase change material to the second state.

Multilevel programming of phase change memory cells

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Stephen J Hudgens