A Novel Method for Extracting the Temperature-Dependent Crystal-Growth Parameters in Fast-Growth Phase-Change Memories

In this letter, we propose a novel method for the extraction of the crystal-growth parameters as a function of temperature in a reset-programmed phase-change memory cell having fast-growth chalcogenide material. The activation energy for the growth of crystal front is obtained using a physics-based analytical simulation fitting a single temperature-ramp measurement. The fit relies on all data points of the ramp measurement, allowing fast and precise determination of the activation energy related to the retention loss of the memory cell.