Memory and storage collide with intel and microns new, muchanticipated 3d xpoint technology, but the road has been long and winding. Ovonyx corporation and ic uda50ah and qimonda ag qimonda today announced that the two sides ovonyx and qimonda by the phase change random access memory pcram patents and intellectual property related to memory products, signed a longterm crosslicense agreement. An overview of phase change memory device physics to cite this article. The present invention relates to a phase change memory. Pcm is 500 to 1,000 times faster than normal flash memory. This is definitely a good thing as we can finally view pdf files without having to install thirdparty apps, but its more of a basic pdf reader. During writes, an access transistor injects current into the storage material and thermally induces phase change, which is detected during reads. Phase change materials have a large electrical contrast.
Phasechange random access memory abk pcram, pram oder kurz pcm, in einer speziellen ausfuhrung auch ovonics unified memory, oum, oder. Ovonyx pcm technology uses a reversible phase change process that provides for high performance, dense, arrayaddressed semiconductor memory technology that can be used as cost effective flash and dram device replacements, as well as in embedded applications such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable mos logic. Based on the ovonyx phase change memory cell, this 4 megabit cram chalcogenide ram memory chip from bae systems is shown in its package before it is covered and the leads are cut. Ovonyx, synopsys to create tcad models for phase change memory.
The scaling capability of chalcogenidebased phasechange. Architecting phase change memory as a scalable dram. Ovonyx and samsung sign technology licensing agreement for. Lastras 2, alvaro padilla1, bipin rajendran, simone raoux2, and rohit s. Bill gates 1981 jibin george mathews, 06142, s7 ea, department of electronics and communication. The companys nonvolatile memory technology, ovonyx pcm, offers significantly faster write and erase speeds and higher cycling endurance than conventional flash memory. Phasechange random access memory, pram, is a form of nonvolatile memory or computer storage that is faster than the much more commonly used flash memory technology. A memory cell of a phasechange memory is conventionally programmed by applying a rectangular pulse of current, referred to as reset pulse, to the cell at a voltage greater than a materialdependent switching threshold, which leaves the material in the reset state amorphous and with high resistivity.
The agreement also provides that ovonyx will actively support hynix program to develop phase change memory products. Scaling analysis of phasechange memory technology ieee xplore. Phasechange memory also known as pcm, pcme, pram, pcram, oum ovonic unified. The electrical and thermal properties of phase change materials are surveyed with a focus on the scalability of the materials and their impact on device design. Phase change memory pcm provides a nonvolatile storage mechanism amenable to process scaling. New discoveries about phase change memory show it can switch at picosecond scales theoretically opening the door to a dram replacement thousands of times faster than our current memory technology. A memory cell of a phase change memory is conventionally programmed by applying a rectangular pulse of current, referred to as reset pulse, to the cell at a voltage greater than a materialdependent switching threshold, which leaves the material in the reset state amorphous and with high resistivity. The present disclosure includes devices and methods for operating phase change memory cells. Phase change memory pcm is an emerging nonvolatile memory technology that could play a key role in future computing systems. Even though phase change memory is not an universal memory in all respects, it comes close to an universal memory on how it can be used for embedded with the smallest amount of process change, one can get a high cycle eeprom equivalent at lower cost. Phase change memories are the most promising candidates for nextgeneration semiconductor nonvolatile memories, having the potential of improved performance compared to flash as well as scalability.
Part 2 a more complete view of element separation posts navigation. Ovonyx memory technology uses a reversible phase change memory process that has been previously commercialized worldwide in rewritable cd and dvd optical memory disks. Author jim handy posted on july 6, 2018 october 30, 2018 categories pcm pram phasechange oum ovonyx, tomorrows memory technologies tags optane, oum, ovonyx, pcm, pcram, phase change memory, pram, xpoint 2 comments on extending the writeerase lifetime of phase change memory. Pcmpramuses the unique behavior of chalcogenide glass. Shenoy1 1 ibm almaden research center, 650 harry road, san jose, california 95120. Us7687830b2 phase change memory with ovonic threshold. Epo t 203810 programming a phasechange memoryovonyx of. Jan 28, 2014 this avoids the need for extra etching steps to etch that chalcogenide layer to form the individual cells of a phase change memory. Phasechange memories are the most promising candidates for nextgeneration semiconductor nonvolatile memories, having the potential of improved performance compared to flash as well as scalability. Author jim handy posted on january 17, 2018 november 14, 2018 categories pcm pram phasechange oum ovonyx, tomorrows memory technologies tags ecd, energy conversion devices, intel, moore, neale, nelson, ovonics, ovonyx, ovshinsky, pcm, phase change, phase change memory, pram. This stems primarily from the fact that phasechange is a thermally driven process rather than an electronic process. When compared to stateoftheart classical computers, this prototype technology is expected to yield. Pdf optical properties of phase change memory ge1sb2te4.
Phase change memory cell concepts and designs springerlink. Ovonyx pcm technology uses a reversible phase change memory process that provides for high performance, dense, arrayaddressed semiconductor memory technology that can be used as cost effective flash and dram device replacements, as well as in embedded applications such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable mos logic. The memory element is embedded in a dielectric and includes a resistive element having at least one sublithographic dimension and a storage region in contact with the resistive element. Ovonyx nonconfidential ovonic unified memory is a new semiconductor memory technology, originally invented by energy conversion devices, inc. Under the agreement, ovonyx will actively support qimonda phase change. Architecting phase change memory as a scalable dram alternative. Yet, simultaneously achieving better thermal stability and fast switching remains a. Boil pashmakov 10755169 20040145944 6859390 9jan04 29jul04 22feb05.
With the large current and slow switching, phase change memory was not competitive with eprom, and the semiconductor memory industry lost interest optical memory application of laserinitiated reversible phasechange in chalcogenide alloy films was reported in 1971. Phase change memory pcm is a type of nonvolatile ram that stores data by changing the state of the material used, meaning it changes back and forth between amorphous and crystalline states on a microscopic level. Ovonyx is now commercializing its phasechange memory technology, called ovonic unified. Kostylev, wolodymyr czubatyj, tyler lowrey 104374 20040228159 6914801 may03 18nov04 5jul05. A phase change memory includes a memory element and a selection element. The phase change memory may include an ovonic unified memory 34 defined by the layers 12 and 14 in one embodiment. Phase change memory pcm has made great progress in the past decade 1.
Phasechange memories are the most promising candidates for nextgeneration semiconductor nonvolatile memories, having the potential of improved performance compared. Oum uses a reversible structural phasechange from the amorphous phase to a crystalline phase in a thinfilm chalcogenide alloy material as the. Phase change memory with ovonic threshold switch ovonyx, inc. Phasechange memory pcm is a key enabling technology for. Phasechange memory article about phasechange memory by. Aug 15, 2016 new discoveries about phase change memory show it can switch at picosecond scales theoretically opening the door to a dram replacement thousands of times faster than our current memory technology. The electrical current passes through the phase change material between the top electrode and heater.
Phase change materials and phase change memory simone raoux, feng xiong, matthias wuttig, and eric pop phase change memory pcm is an emerging technology that combines the unique properties of phase change materials with the potential for novel memory devices, which can help lead to new computer architectures. Phase change memory stanford nanoheat stanford university. Uda50ah datasheet pdf,ic uda50ah suppliers price buy. Ovonyx and hynix sign technology and licensing agreement for. Ovonyx memory technology uses a reversible phasechange memory process that has been previously commercialized worldwide in rewritable cd and dvd optical memory disks. Ovonyx and its largest shareholder, energy conversion devices, invented and pioneered the development of phase change memory pcm technology, thereby gaining a fundamental understanding of.
Oct 24, 2017 today, ibm research is announcing that its scientists have demonstrated that an unsupervised machinelearning algorithm, running on one million phase change memory pcm devices, successfully found temporal correlations in unknown data streams. From the simulation results, the larger tilted angle caused a lower resistivity of the pcm cell and it was a modeled as linear current function of the variation of the tilted angle and applied voltage. Thermal conditions that allow for fast crystallization should not be too similar to standby conditions, e. Phase change memories use a class of materials that have the property of switching between two phases having distinct electrical characteristics, associated to two different crystallographic structures of the material, and precisely an amorphous, disordered phase and a crystalline or polycrystalline, ordered phase. Optical properties of phase change memory ge1sb2te4 glasses article pdf available in journal of optoelectronics and advanced materials 1112. Aixtron and ovonyx partner to develop deposition technology. The article can be downloaded as a pdf by clicking here. Ovonyxs pcm technology uses a reversible phasechange process that allows for high performance, dense, arrayaddressed semiconductor memory technology that can be used as cost effective flash and dram device replacements, as well as in embedded applications such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable mos logic. Current crowding at the heater to phase change material contact results in a programmed. Numonyx and ovonyx sign technology licensing agreement for. Sep 10, 2008 ovonyxs pcm technology uses a reversible phasechange process that allows for high performance, dense, arrayaddressed semiconductor memory technology that can be used as cost effective flash and dram device replacements, as well as in embedded applications such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable mos logic.
Phase change memory pcm is a term used to describe a class of nonvolatile memory devices that employ a reversible phase change in materials to. Jul 24, 2018 phase change memory pcm is an emerging nonvolatile memory technology that could play a key role in future computing systems. Journal of optoelectronics and advanced materials vol. Ovonyx who owned the proprietary pcm technology ori. An overview of phasechange memory device physics iopscience. As shown in figure 1, in the amorphous phase, the material is highly disordered there is an absence of regular order to the crystalline lattice. Phase change memory can be referred to by a number of names including pram or pram, pcram, phase change ram, and possibly more. Ovonyx who owned the proprietary pcm technology originally invented by ovshinsky.
Ovonyx is now commercializing its phase change memory technology, called ovonic unified. Pdf nonvolatile highdensity highperformance phasechange. Ovonyx nonvolatile pcm technology offers significantly faster write and erase speeds through its capability for bytewrite in either direction avoiding the need to erase a. This avoids the need for extra etching steps to etch that chalcogenide layer to form the individual cells of a phase change memory. Today, ibm research is announcing that its scientists have demonstrated that an unsupervised machinelearning algorithm, running on one million phase change memory pcm devices, successfully found temporal correlations in unknown data streams. Ovonyx and hynix today announced that they have entered into a longterm license agreement for memory products under ovonyx patents and intellectual property relating to phase change memory pcm technology. Due to the huge resistance difference between a 1 and 0 in the memory cell. The ovonyx arrayaddressed semiconductor memory technology can be used in applications such as flash and dram memory replacements, as well as in embedded applications in many. Phase change memory can be referred to by a number of names including pram or. Microsoft edge is not only the default web browser in windows 10 but also the default pdf reader. Mocvd gst for high performance phase change memory devices.
Jun 18, 2018 phase change memory has been developed into a mature technology capable of storing information in a fast and nonvolatile way 1,2,3, with potential for neuromorphic computing applications 4,5,6. Phase change memory is susceptible to a fundamental tradeoff of unintended vs. Phase change memory technology phase change chalcogenides exhibit a reversible phase change phenomenon when changed from the amorphous phase to the crystalline phase. Phasechange memory, to recap, is a chalcogenide glasslike material which changes its internal state from amorphous to crystalline and back again when the appropriate amount of electricity is. Ovonyx joint venture is formed to commercialize pram technology. The basics of phase change memory technology signal lake. In collaboration with rwth aachen university, my team and i at ibm researchzurich went in the opposite direction of the mainstream pcm research by using only one single chemical elementantimony sbinstead of the typical material cocktail. Modern development of pcm began in the late 90s with the forming of ovonyx.
Ibm scientists demonstrate inmemory computing with 1 million. Phase change memorypcm no one will need more than 637kb of memory for a personal computer. Title and inventors 311 patents and applications assigned by. Ovonyx pcm technology uses a reversible phasechange memory process that provides for high performance, dense, arrayaddressed semiconductor memory technology that can be used as cost effective flash and dram device replacements, as well as in embedded applications such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable mos logic. An overview of phasechange memory device physics to cite this article. Effect of tilted angle in trench structure on phase change. Pdf optical properties of phase change memory ge1sb2te4 glasses. However, we need to follow an aggressive path of reducing reset current and increasing write speeds for application in. Phase change memory pcm offers remarkable features such as highspeed and nonvolatility for universal memory. This stems primarily from the fact that phase change is a thermally driven process rather than an electronic process. Breitwisch 2, michele franceschini, davide garetto, kailash gopalakrishnan 1, bryan jackson, bulen t kurdi, chung lam2, luis a. Another way to allocate memory, where the memory will remain allocated until you manually deallocate it returns a pointer to the newly allocated memory terminology note. Phase changes are induced by injecting current into the resistor junction and heating the chalcogenide.
One or more embodiments include applying a programming signal to a phase change material of a memory cell, and decreasing a magnitude of a trailing portion of the applied programming signal successively according to a number of particular decrements. This article surveys the current state of phasechange memory pcm as a nonvolatile memory. Phase change random access memory, pram, is a form of nonvolatile memory or computer storage that is faster than the much more commonly used flash memory technology. The current and voltage characteristics of the chalcogenide are identical regardless of its initial phase, thereby. Phasechange memory is susceptible to a fundamental tradeoff of unintended vs. Invited paper phasechangememory stanford university. Ovonyx pcm technology uses a reversible phasechange process that provides for high performance, dense, arrayaddressed semiconductor memory technology that can be used as cost effective flash and dram device replacements, as well as in embedded applications such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable mos logic. Phase change memory with threshold switch select device. Synopsys and ovonyx collaborate on tcad models for phase. Mocvd gst for high performance phase change memory.
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