Reliability assessment on new reprogrammable non-volatile memory devices based on SiCr-O

Abstract The reliability of SiCr–O based reprogrammable non-volatile resistive memory devices is investigated. Superior data retention performances are confirmed with a lifetime of 10 k h at 245 °C. The activation energy is determined by experiments as 1.28 eV, projecting an intrinsic data retention lifetime of more than 100 years at 175 °C. An endurance life of a thousand program/erase cycles is achieved. The impact of dielectric in direct contact with the SiCr–O film, the layout of the device and the preconditioning step on endurance life are studied. Transmission electron microscopy cross-sections are made to understand the mechanism of the endurance failure. Electro-thermal simulations are performed to gain insight on the observed phenomena and to give directions for further improvements.