• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.285-290
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• 2015

The phase change memory material is an active element in phase change memory and exhibits reversible phase transition behavior by thermal energy input. The doping of the phase change memory material with Ga leads to the increase of its crystallization temperature and the improvement of its amorphous stability. In this study, we investigated the effect of GaGe sputtering power on the formation of the phase change memory material including Ga. The deposition rate linearly increased to a maximum of 127 nm and the surface roughness remained uniform as the GaGe sputtering power increased in the range from 0 to 75 W. The Ga concentration in the thin film material abruptly increased at the critical sputtering power of 60 W. This influence of GaGe sputtering power was confirmed to result from a combined sputtering-evaporation process of Ga occurring due to the low melting point of Ga ($29.77^{\circ}C$).

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2008

The present status of technical development of a highly scalable, high-speed non-volatile PCM is overviewed. Major technical challenges are described along with solutions that are being pursued in terms of innovative device structures and fabrication technologies, new phase change materials, and new memory schemes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.222.2-222.2
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• 2015

A $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ nanowire (GST NW) phase change memory device is investigated with Joule heating electrodes. GST is the most promising phase change materials, thus has been studied for decades but atomic structure transition in the phase-change area of single crystalline phase-change material has not been clearly investigated. We fabricated a phase change memory (PCM) device consisting of GST NWs connected with WN electrodes. The GST NW has switching performance with the reset/set resistance ratio above $10^3$. We directly observed the changes in atomic structure between the ordered hexagonal close packed (HCP) structure and disordered amorphous phase of a reset-stop GST NW with cross-sectional STEM analysis. Amorphous areas are detected at the center of NW and side areas adjacent to heating electrodes. Direct imaging of phase change area verified the atomic structure transition from the migration and disordering of Ge and Sb atoms. Even with the repeated phase transitions, periodic arrangement of Te atoms is not significantly changed, thus acting as a template for recrystallization. This result provides a novel understanding on the phase-change mechanism in single crystalline phase-change materials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.103-104
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• 2006

PRAM (Phase change Random Access Memory) is one of the most promising candidates for next generation Non-volatile Memories. The Phase change material has been researched in the field of optical data storage media. However, the characteristics required in solid state memory are quite different from optical ones. In this study, the reset current and temperature profile of PRAM cells with bottom electrode were calculated by the numerical method.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.741-749
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• 2014

Low power double data rate 2 non-volatile memory (LPDDR2-NVM) has been deemed the standard interface to connect non-volatile memory devices such as phase-change memory (PCM) directly to the main memory bus. However, most of the previous literature does not consider or overlook this standard interface. In this paper, we propose address phase skipping by reforming the way of interfacing with LPDDR2-NVM. To verify effectiveness and functionality, we also develop a system-level prototype that includes our customized LPDDR2-NVM controller and commercial PCM devices. Extensive simulations and measurements demonstrate up to a 3.6% memory access time reduction for commercial PCM devices and a 31.7% reduction with optimistic parameters of the PCM research prototypes in industries.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.80-81
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• 2005

Chalcogenide phase change memory has high performance to be next generation memory, because it is a nonvolatile memory processing high programming speed, low programming voltage, high sensing margin, low consumption and long cycle duration. We have developed a sample of PRAM with thermal protected layer. We have investigated the phase transition behaviors in function of process factor including thermal protect layer. As a result, we have observed that set voltage and duration of protect layer are more improved than no protect layer.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.07c
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• pp.1426-1427
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• 2006

Chalcogenide based phase-change memory has a high capability and potential for the next generation nonvolatile memory device. Fast writing speed, low writing voltage, high sensing margin, low power consume and long cycle of read/write repeatability are also good advantages of nonvolatile phase-change memory. We have been investigated the new material for the phase-change memory. Its composition is consists of chalcogenide $Ge_{1}Se_{1}Te_2$ material. We made this new material to solve problems of conventional phase-change memory which has disadvantage of high power consume and high writing voltage. In the present work, we are manufactured $Ge_{1}Se_{1}Te_{2}/Ge_{2}Sb_{2}Te_{5}/Ge_{1}Se_{1}Te_{2}$ and $Ge_{2}Sb_{2}Te_{5}/Ge_{1}Se_{1}Te_{2}/Ge_{2}Sb_{2}Te_{5}$ sandwich triple layer structure devices are manufactured to investigate its electrical properties. Through the present work, we are willing to ensure a potential of substitutional method to overcome a crystallization problem on PRAM device.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.1335-1336
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• 2007

Among the emerging non-volatile memory technologies, phase change memories are the most attractive in terms of both performance and scalability perspectives. Phase-change random access memory(PRAM), compare with flash memory technologies, has advantages of high density, low cost, low consumption energy and fast response speed. However, PRAM device has disadvantages of set operation speed and reset operation power consumption. In this paper, we investigated scalability of $Ge_{1}Se_{1}Te_{2}$ chalcogenide material to improve its properties. As a result, reduction of phase change region have improved electrical properties of PRAM device.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.48-52
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• 2014

In this paper, scaling down characteristics of vertical channel phase random access memory are investigated with device simulator and finite element analysis simulator. Electrical properties of select transistor are obtained by device simulator and those of phase change material are obtained by finite element analysis simulator. From the fusion of both data, scaling properties of vertical channel phase change random access memory (VPCRAM) are considered with ITRS roadmap. Simulation of set reset current are carried out to analyze the feasibility of scaling down and compared with values in ITRS roadmap. Simulation results show that width and length ratio of the phase change material (PCM) is key parameter of scaling down in VPCRAM. Thermal simulation results provide the design guideline of VPCRAM. Optimization of phase change material in VPCRAM can be achieved by oxide sidewall process optimization.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.69-70
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• 2006

A detailed Investigation of cell structure and electrical characteristic in chalcogenide-based phase-change random access memory(PRAM) devices is presented. We used compound of Ge-Sb-Te material for phase-change cell. A novel bottom electrode structure and manufacture are described. We used heat radiator structure for improved reset characteristic. A resistance change measurement is performed on the test chip. From the resistance change, we could observe faster reset characteristic.