HSPICE macromodel of PCRAM for binary and multilevel storage

• Published in: IEEE transactions on electron devices Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 56 - 62
• Main Authors: Wei, X.Q., Shi, L.P., Walia, R., Chong, T.C., Zhao, R., Miao, X.S., Quek, B.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.01.2006; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Circuits; Computer simulation; Crystallization; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; HSPICE macromodel; integrated circuit (IC); Integrated circuit modeling; Integrated circuits; Integrated circuits by function (including memories and processors); Mathematical models; Multilevel; multilevel storage; nonvolatile memory (NVM); Phase change; phase change random access memory (PCRAM); Programming; Random access memories; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Theoretical study. Circuits analysis and design; Pulse width; Circuit simulation; multilevel storage; Random access memory; Non volatile memory; nonvolatile memory (NVM); Integrated circuit; HSPICE macromodel; SPICE; integrated circuit (IC); Simulator; Multilevel system; Comparative study; phase change random access memory (PCRAM)
• ISSN: 0018-9383; 1557-9646
• DOI: 10.1109/TED.2005.860645

A general macromodel of the phase change random access memory (PCRAM) elements for use in HSPICE-based computer simulator is proposed in this paper by introducing physical models of PCRAM elements. It can simulate the dc and transient behavior of PCRAM element. In this paper, the model was integrated with the standard R/W circuit and successfully simulated the R-I curve and dependence between amplitude and width of programming pulses. A comparison between experimental and simulation results were also given. Furthermore, by including the partial crystallization states, the macromodel was developed for simulating the multilevel storage.