Conditions of steady switching in phase-transition memory cells

Three types of non-volatile memory cells of different designs based on phase transitions are developed and implemented. The effect of the design features of the cells and their active-region sizes on the switching characteristics and normal operation of the cells is considered as a whole. The causes of failure of the cells are analyzed from the obtained series of scanning electron images upon level-by-level etching of the samples. It is shown that the cell design is the most critical factor from the viewpoint of switching to the high-resistance state. The causes of this fact are analyzed and the criterion for providing the steady operation of cells of non-volatile memory based on phase transitions is formulated.