Electric Crosstalk Effect in Valence Change Resistive Random Access Memory

Electric crosstalk phenomenon in valence change resistive switching memory (VCM) is systematically investigated. When a voltage is applied on the VCM device, an electric field is formed in the isolated region between the devices, which causes the oxygen vacancies in conductive filaments (CFs) to drift apart, leading to a consequent resistance degradation of the neighboring devices. The effects of distance between memory cells, electrodes widths and physical dimensions of CFs on the memory performance are investigated in this work. Furthermore, the strategies to mitigate electric crosstalk effects are developed. According to the simulation results, the crosstalk phenomenon can become more severe as the distance between memory cells or the electrode width decreases. In order to optimize the device performance, it is helpful to control the location of the break points of CFs in the device close to the top electrode. Alternatively, taking the integration density into account, switching materials with a small field accelerated parameter can also contribute to obtaining a stable performance.