Extraction of the retention properties of a phase-change cell from temperature-ramp tests using a novel method

In this work we propose a novel method for fast and reliable evaluation of the retention properties of phase-change memory cells, based on the modeling of the temperature-ramp characteristics. Using this method we investigate the influence of the length and thickness of the amorphous mark on the retention lifetime. The results show that the degradation of the retention properties with the cell scaling is limited.