Simulation of Voltage SET Operation in Phase-Change Random Access Memories with Heater Addition and Ring-Type Contactor for Low-Power Consumption by Finite Element Modeling

A three-dimensional finite element model for phase change random access memory is established to simulate electric, thermal and phase state distribution during (SET) operation. The model is applied to simulate the SET behaviors of the heater addition structure (HS) and the ring-type contact in the bottom electrode (RIB) structure. The simulation results indicate that the small bottom electrode contactor (BEC) is beneficial for heat efficiency and reliability in the HS cell, and the bottom electrode contactor with size Fx =80 nm is a good choice for the RIB cell. Also shown is that the appropriate SET pulse time is 100 ns for the low power consumption and fast operation.