Composite electrode having low heat consumption and small contact area for memory device of phase-changing medium

Abstract

A low heat loss and small contact area electrode structure for a phase change media memory device is disclosed. The memory device includes a composite electrode that includes a dielectric mandrel that is connected with a substrate and having a tapered shape that terminates at a vertex. An electrically conductive material conformally covers the dielectric mandrel and terminates at a tip. A first dielectric layer covers all of the composite electrode except an exposed portion of the composite electrode that is adjacent to the tip. A phase change media is in contact with the exposed portion. The exposed portion is only a small percentage of an overall surface area of the composite electrode so that a contact footprint between the exposed portion and the phase change media is small relative to a surface area of the phase change media and Joule heat transfer from the phase change media into the composite electrode is reduced.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention generally relates to a composite electrode with low heat loss and small contact area with a phase change medium. In particular, the present invention relates to a phase-change medium storage device, wherein the composite electrode includes an exposed portion in contact with the phase-change medium. The small percentage of the exposed portion of the overall area of ​​the composite electrode results in a small contact footprint between the exposed portion and the phase change medium that reduces heat transfer from the phase change medium to the composite electrode. Background technique [0002] Memory storage devices that store information based on phase change materials are considered as an alternative to traditional data storage devices such as hard disks and flash memory, to name a few. In phase change material based memory devices, data is stored in one of two physical states of the phase change material. [0003] For example,...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0010] One disadvantage of existing phase change memory cells 100 is that not all of the energy contained in Joule heating J is used to change the state of phase change material 101 from amorphous state a to crystalline state c

First, increasing the current I results in increased power dissipation, and it is desirable to reduce power dissipation in electronic circuits

Second, increasing the current I requires a larger driver circuit to supply the current I, and the larger circuit consumes the previous circuit chip area

Furthermore, heat loss from any given memory cell 100, thermal crosstalk from adjacent memory cells 100, and contact area C A acting alone or together, can cause large variations in resistance between memory cells 100

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