Improving switching performance of RRAM through protruding top electrode and utilizing surface roughness: multi-physics simulations

Abstract

Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) has emerged as a promising candidate for next-generation storage class memory, primarily owing to its simple structure, cost-effectiveness in the manufacturing process, and high endurance. Despite these advantages, the commercialization of RRAM has been hindered by cell-to-cell variance. Various solutions have been proposed, with methods concentrating electric fields through electrode engineering, such as protruding electrodes, showing promising outcomes. However, existing studies have not fully explored the extent of changes in switching characteristics or the variations in these characteristics based on the specifications of the protruding electrode when applied. This thesis investigated the impact of a protruding top electrode on RRAM, analyzing the enhancement in switching performance with respect to the depth and slope of the protruding electrode through multi-physical simulation. The outcomes provide some simple design rules for applying protruding electrodes. Furthermore, we analyzed the variation in the effect of protruding electrodes concerning different switching layer materials and confirmed the potential of utilizing surface roughness to improve the switching performance of RRAM.