NCCAVS Talk Material Innovation for Non-Volatile Memory ... · Material Innovation for Non-Volatile Memory Selectors Larry Chen, Mark Clark, Charlene Chen, Milind Weling Feb 23rd,

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NCCAVS TalkMaterial Innovation for Non-Volatile

Memory Selectors

Larry Chen, Mark Clark, Charlene Chen, Milind Weling

Feb 23rd, 2017

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Proprietary and Confidential

Outline

• IMI: Technical Value Proposition

• NVM Selector Key Performance Indicators

• IMI selector screening methodology

• Case study

• Summary

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IMI: Technical Value Proposition

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Growing Complexity & Cost of Material Development

4

Source: Intel

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

$ M

illio

ns

0.13 90nm 65nm 45nm 32nm 22nm 14nm

Process Technology Development Costs By Node

Source: Common Platform & All Partners Analysis

• Advanced materials are key to

Semiconductor roadmap and

leadership

• Critical attributes for material

discovery process

o Enables fast screening

o Handles complex and

toxic material system

o Minimizes fab exposure to

contamination

Cost

Complexity

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IMI Offers Unique Development Platform

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High Throughput Experimentation accelerates and de-risks materials innovation

Accelerated

Experimentation

Analytics Excellence

High throughput experimentation

PVD

Electrical Characterization & E-test• Fully automated probers with heated

and/or cooled chucks• Device: C-V, I-V & parameter

extraction ( EOT, EWF)• Parametric: Leakage, line resistance,

contact resistance, capacitance• Reliability: Vbd, TDDB• Pulsed switching: Ion, Ioff, data

retention (eg. Non-volatile memory)

Electrical

Characterizations

Deep Material and Device Innovation

Application knowledge + Understanding of integration issues

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Extensive Materials Capability

111

Rg

1

H

37

Rb

19

K

55

Cs

87

Fr

3

Li

11

Na

2

He

4

Be5

B7

N6

C8

O9

F10

Ne

20

Ca21

Sc22

Ti23

V25

Mn24

Cr27

Co26

Fe28

Ni29

Cu31

Ga30

Zn33

As32

Ge34

Se35

Br36

Kr

38

Sr39

Y40

Zr41

Nb43

Tc42

Mo45

Rh44

Ru46

Pd47

Ag49

In48

Cd51

Sb50

Sn52

Te53

I54

Xe

88

Ra89

Ac

56

Ba57

La72

Hf73

Ta75

Re74

W77

Ir76

Os78

Pt79

Au81

Tl80

Hg83

Bi82

Pb84

Po85

At

58

Ce59

Pr61

Pm60

Nd63

Eu62

Sm64

Gd65

Tb67

Ho66

Dy69

Tm68

Er70

Yb71

Lu

90

Th91

Pa93

Np92

U95

Am94

Pu96

Cm97

Bk99

Es98

Cf101

Md100

Fm102

No103

Lr

12

Mg13

Al15

P14

Si16

S17

Cl18

Ar

104

Rf105

Db106

Sg107

Bh108

Hs109

Mt110

Ds

86

Rn

PVD ALD or Vapor

PVD Physical Vapor DepositionALD Atomic Layer Deposition

• Metal Oxides

• Metal Nitrides

• Metals

• Alloys

• Chalcogenides

Deposition and characterization

of multinary materials:

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Screening of Non-Volatile Memory Selectors

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Non-volatile Memory Selector- Key Performance Indicators

Top Electrode

State Change

Layer

Bottom

Electrode

Top Electrode

State Change

Layer

Bottom

Electrode

Selector ElementEg: TMO, OTS, MSM, MIEC Diodes

Memory ElementEg: ReRAM, PCRAM, CBRAM

Metal 1

Metal 2

“Sneak path”

solved with

selector

deviceGeneric Cross-point Memory Cell

New Selector required to eliminate sneak current

for cross-point memory

• Selector devices are critical to eliminating sneak current paths

• Disruptive selectors needed to address performance, density and reliability

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Sneak current paths

* Ref: An Chen 2014 AVS TFUG Seminar

Selector: Key Parameters

No forming

Threshold Voltage (Vth)

On current (Ion) and density

(Jon)

Off current (Ioff) and density

(Joff)

Selectivity (On/Off ratio)

Thermal stability

Switching speed

Endurance (AC, DC)

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New NVM Selector Device Comparison

Choice of selector determined by trade-off between performance, reliability and ease of integration

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High Throughput Experimentation Methodology

Fast material screening for selector innovation:• Metal Chalcogenide : 2500+ experiments

• MIEC: 2000+ experiments

• Transition Metal Oxide: 1000+ experiments

ProcessDevice

CharacterizationPhysical

Characterization

Test

Vehicle

PVD Co-sputter • Composition

• Crystallinity

• Resistivity

• Thermal Stability

• Device Types

• Leakage

• DC IV

• Pulse IV

• Endurance

Dep & Test

Re-insertion

(Dep & Send)

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Process and Physical Characterizations

Site-isolated PVD Deposition

• Each spot is an experiment

• Each layer can be deposited by 1 to 5 sputter sources

• Multilayer stack capability

• Shutters for aperture and targets prevent cross-contamination

IMI P-30 PVD Chamber

Aperture r site-

isolation; theta-theta

stage for translation

Site Deposition on 300mm wfr

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Composition

Pre-filter non-viable

compositions

Thermal Stability

& Resistivity

Pre-filter non-performing

Response Surface:

Tc, Crystallization Temp

Physical Characterizations

• Thickness

• Composition

• Crystallinity

• Resistivity

• n & k

• Thermal stability

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Electrical Characterizations - Overview Available E-Test Modules

E-TEST MODULESCATEGORY NAME DESCRITPION

ImagingCamera Box Low magnification image

E-Vision High magnification image

DC-V

DC-V Uni Single voltage sweep w/wo return

DC-V Bip Double voltage sweep w/wo return

V-Cyc Endurance uni/bip w/wo return

Leak Leakage checks

CVfCapacitance vs. voltage and/or

frequency

V-t Voltage stress vs. time

V-arb Arbitrary voltage sweep

Rho Sheet Resistance (w/wo T sweep)

DC-I

DC-I Uni Single current sweep w/wo return

DC-I Bip Double current sweep w/wo return

I-Cyc Endurance w/wo return

I-t Current stress vs. time

I-arb Arbitrary current sweep

Pulse

P-IV Uni Single sweep w/wo return/op-amp

P-IV Bip Double sweep w/wo return/op-amp

P-Cyc Endurance w/wo return/op-amp

P-End Burst/Endurance w/wo op-amp

P-Verify Program Verify

Tran Transient Waveforms

Cu

rren

t D

en

sit

y

Voltage

Cu

rren

t D

en

sit

y

Voltage

P-IV Uni (without op-amp) P-IV Uni (with op-amp)

t

V

Sweep N Sweep N+1Burst N

M pulses

< 500ms

PW (e.g. 1µs)

P-End

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DCIV

• Level 1 screening

•All splits

Pulsed IV

• Level 2 screening

• Selected splits

Endurance

• Level 3 screening

• Champion splits

Increasingly advanced electrical characterization to realize promising selector candidates

…

…

…

Selector Candidates Screening Stages

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Summary

• New selector innovation needed to eliminate sneak current for cross-point

memory architecture

• High-Throughput-Experimentation methodology accelerates and de-risk new

selector material screening and device innovation

• IMI has successfully collaborated with customers to realize novel selector

devices using HTE methodology

• Acknowledgments: J Watanabe and Customer+IMI collaboration teams

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