Fully lithography independent fabrication of nanogap electrodes for lateral phase-change random access memory application

A nanogap electrode fabrication method was developed and nanogap electrode as small as 17 nm was achieved based on sacrificial spacer process and conventional lithography. We have transferred this method to lateral phase-change random access memory (PCRAM) device fabrication. The electrical characterizations of 4.6 μm gap width using conventional lithography and 88 nm width based on this technology are shown. It is found that the threshold voltage and the dc power consumption are remarkably decreased due to nanogap electrode process. Our method cannot only improve the fabrication efficiency of PCRAM but also be easily transferred to other nanoelectronics applications.