Electrical Conductivity Discontinuity at Melt in Phase Change Memory

Discontinuity of electrical and thermal conductivity values at melt has been reported in phase change materials. Signatures of the effect are found in phase change memory cells with Wall architecture. A quantitative model describing the dependence on temperature of electrical and thermal conductivity values of the phase change alloy is introduced, covering the range from solid phase to beyond melt. The model has been implemented in a 3-D electro-thermal TCAD tool and successfully validated against the experimental results.