Field-accelerated structural relaxation in the amorphous state of phase change memory

Abstract

This work shows the experimental evidence of the acceleration of the resistance drift phenomenon over time by means of a constant bias applied to a phase change memory cell programmed in the amorphous state. The experimental findings, highlighting the role of electric field in the drift phenomenon, are supported by a bias-controlled kinetic model describing the amorphous network in terms of many two-level systems evolving over time to lower its own total system energy. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.