Chalcogenide nanowires for scaled phase change memories: opportunities and challenges

Massimo LONGO, IMM-CNR

Ultimate programming energy reduction and fast switching in the emerging phase change memories (PCM) for electronic data storage are expected to come with the programming material volume reduction and other favorable size effects. One viable route is the use of self-assembly processes by chemical deposition methods, to produce low-dimensional phase change nanowires as memory cells, since their growth can be controlled, along with their diameter, composition and crystallinity. In this presentation, unprecedented results in the self-assembly of Ge-Sb-Te, In-Sb-Te and Ge-(InTe) nanowires will be illustrated, representing the outcome of the European Project SYNAPSE (http://synapse.mdm.imm.cnr.it). The nanowire functional analysis will be reported, along with the preliminary studies to control their positioning, currently one of the primary issues, in view of potential future applications for scaled PCM devices.

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