Progress in the study of current-and-hold characteristics regulation of resistive devices by the Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Recently, Liu Ming, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and their collaborators have made important progress in the regulation of current-and-hold characteristics of cationic-based resistive devices.

Resistive memory is a new type of storage technology with low power consumption, high access speed, good scalability and easy 3D integration. It is considered to be a strong competitor for next-generation storage technology. The 1S1R unit-based 3D cross-array architecture is the most promising high-density integrated technology solution for RRAM. To ensure proper operation of the 1S1R, the selector must be able to provide a higher drive current than the memory, which is contrary to the classic relationship of current-hold characteristics (the higher the current, the better the characteristics). Therefore, how to effectively regulate the retention characteristics of cationic-based resistive devices and break the classical relationship of current-holding characteristics to meet the needs of cationic-based resistive devices as memory/selectors is an urgent problem in resistive memory applications. .

In response to the above problems, Liu Ming team proposed to control the stability of the conductive path in the cationic electrode resistive device by controlling the distribution of the path size and quantity of the active electrode ions into the resistive functional layer through the graphene defect engineering. . Such a method of regulation can also be seen as a scientific application of the oriental philosophy of "a chopstick is gently broken and ten pairs of chopsticks are firmly held together." This method breaks the classic problem of current-maintaining dilemma in resistive devices, not only obtaining a high drive current (bidirectional 500μA), a low-retention volatile selector (Fig. 1a), but also obtaining a low operating current (1μA). The high-maintaining non-volatile memory (Fig. 1b) lays the foundation for the 3D high-density integration of the 1S1R solution for resistive memory (Figure 2). This work is the first time in the field to achieve bidirectional regulation of current-holding characteristics in the same structure of resistive devices. This universal ion mobility shifting method based on the two-dimensional material barrier concept can also be applied to ion batteries, ion sensing, etc. field.

The work was titled "The Current-Preserving Difficulties in Cationic Deformation Devices by Graphene Defect Engineering" and published in Advanced Materials (DOI: 10.1002/adma.201705193) and was rated as Inside cover story, related patents are already being applied. Zhao Xiaolong, Ph.D., Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Ma Jun, Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology, and Xiao Xiangheng, professor of Wuhan University, are the co-first authors of the paper. Liu Ming, researcher Liu Qi of Microelectronics Institute and researcher Di Zengfeng of Shanghai Microsystems The author of the paper co-communication. The research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program, the National Natural Science Foundation, the Beijing Science and Technology Talent Training Program, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Strategic Key Research Program.