US 11,944,022 B2
Resistive memory with a switching zone between two dielectric regions having different doping and/or dielectric constants
Laurent Grenouillet, Grenoble (FR); Marios Barlas, Grenoble (FR); and Etienne Nowak, Grenoble (FR)
Assigned to COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES, Paris (FR)
Filed by COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES, Paris (FR)
Filed on Aug. 30, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/446,328.
Claims priority of application No. 20 08916 (FR), filed on Sep. 2, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0069217 A1, Mar. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. H10N 70/00 (2023.01); G11C 13/00 (2006.01); H10B 63/00 (2023.01)
CPC H10N 70/883 (2023.02) [G11C 13/0002 (2013.01); H10B 63/00 (2023.02); H10N 70/841 (2023.02)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A resistive memory structure, comprising a memory cell comprising a first electrode and a second electrode arranged on either side of a dielectric layer, the memory cell being capable of reversibly switching between a “high resistance” state and a “low resistance” state,
wherein the dielectric layer comprises a switching zone forming a preferred conduction path for the current when the memory cell is in the low resistance state,
wherein the dielectric layer comprises a first region and a second region adjoining one another in such a way as to form an interface between the first and second regions, the first and second region (a) being made of the same dielectric material and having different compositions in terms of doping element(s) or concentration of doping element or (b) being respectively made of a first dielectric material and a second dielectric material having different respective dielectric constants,
wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are arranged facing the interface between the first region and the second region, the interface extending in a given plane passing through the dielectric layer and passing through the electrodes so as to locate the switching zone at the interface zone, and
(i) wherein the dielectric layer comprises an alternation of regions of a first type having a composition identical to the first region and regions of a second type and having the same composition as the second region, at least one given electrode out of the first electrode and second electrode being facing a single interface between a region of the first type and a region of the second type, or
(ii) wherein the resistive memory structure further comprises a third electrode juxtaposed with, and distinct from, the second electrode, the third electrode being arranged facing another interface between the first region and a third region of the dielectric layer, the third region being juxtaposed with the first region and disposed so that the first region is located between the third region and the second region, the first region and the third region being made of the same dielectric material and having different compositions in terms of doping element(s) or concentration of doping element or being respectively made of a first dielectric material and a second dielectric material having different respective dielectric constants, or
(iii) wherein the first region extends, in a direction parallel to a main plane of the dielectric laver, between the interface and a zone located facing a first lateral face of at least one given electrode out of the first electrode and second electrode, the second region extending, in a direction parallel to the main plane of the dielectric layer, between the interface and another zone facing a second lateral face of the given electrode opposite to the first lateral face, and the first electrode, the second electrode, and the insulating layer being surrounded by trenches filled with insulating material.