Programmable metallization cell

The programmable metallization cell, or PMC, is a non-volatile computer memory developed at

Arizona State University. PMC a technology developed to replace the widely used flash memory,
providing a combination of longer lifetimes, lower power, and better memory density. Infineon
Technologies, who licensed the technology in 2004, refers to it as conductive-bridging RAM, or
CBRAM. CBRAM became a registered trademark of Adesto Technologies in 2011.[1] NEC has a
variant called "Nanobridge" and Sony calls their version "electrolytic memory".

PMC is a two terminal resistive memory technology developed at Arizona State University. PMC
is an electrochemical metallization memory that relies on redox reactions to form and dissolve a
conductive filament.[2] The state of the device is determined by the resistance across the two
terminals. The existence of a filament between the terminals produces a low resistance state
(LRS) while the absence of a filament results in a high resistance state (HRS). A PMC device is
made of two solid metal electrodes, one relatively inert (e.g., tungsten or nickel) the other
electrochemically active (e.g., silver or copper), with a thin film of solid electrolyte between
them.[3]

Device operation

The resistance state of a PMC is controlled by the formation (programming) or dissolution

(erasing) of a metallic conductive filament between the two terminals of the cell. A formed
filament is a fractal tree like structure

Filament formation

PMC rely on the formation of a metallic conductive filament to transition to a low resistance state
(LRS). The filament is created by applying a positive voltage bias (V) to the anode contact (active
metal) while groundingthe cathode contact (inert metal). The positive bias oxidizes the active
metal (M)

M → M+ + e−
The applied bias generates an electric field between the two metal contacts. The ionized
(oxidized) metal ions migrate along the electric field toward the cathode contact. At the cathode
contact, the metal ions are reduced:

M+ + e− → M

As the active metal deposits on the cathode, the electric field increases between the anode and
the deposit. The evolution of the local electric field (E) between the growing filament and the
anode can be simplistically related to the following:

where d is the distance between the anode and the top of the growing filament. The filament will
grow to connect to the anode within a few nanoseconds.[4] Metal ions will continue to be
reduced at the filament until the voltage is removed, broadening the conductive filament and
decreasing the resistance of the connection over time. Once the voltage is removed, the
conductive filament will remain, leaving the device in a LRS.

The conductive filament may not be continuous, but a chain of electrodeposit islands or
nanocrystals.[5] This is likely to prevail at low programming currents (less than 1 μA) whereas
higher programming current will lead to a mostly metallic conductor.

Filament dissolution

A PMC can be "erased" into a high resistance state (HRS) by appling a negative voltage bias to the
anode. The redox process used to create the conductive filament is reversed and the metal ions
migrate along the reversed electric field to reduce at the anode contact. With the filament
removed, the PMC is analogous to parallel plate capacitor with a high resistance of several MΩ
to GΩ between the contacts.

Device read

An individual PMC can be read by applying a small voltage across the cell. As long as the applied
read voltage is less than both the programming and erasing voltage threshold, the direction of
the bias is not significant.
The primary form of solid-state non-volatile memory in use is flash memory, which is finding use
in most roles formerly filled by hard drives. Flash, however, has problems that led to many efforts
to introduce products to replace it.

Flash is based on the floating gate concept, essentially a modified transistor. Conventional flash
transistors have three connections, the source, drain and gate. The gate is the essential
component of the transistor, controlling the resistance between the source and drain, and
thereby acting as a switch. In the floating gate transistor, the gate is attached to a layer that traps
electrons, leaving it switched on (or off) for extended periods of time. The floating gate can be
re-written by passing a large current through the emitter-collector circuit.

It is this large current that is flash's primary drawback, and for a number of reasons. For one, each
application of the current physically degrades the cell, such that the cell will eventually be
unwritable. Write cycles on the order of 105 to 106 are typical, limiting flash applications to roles
where constant writing is not common. The current also requires an external circuit to generate,
using a system known as a charge pump. The pump requires a fairly lengthy charging process so
that writing is much slower than reading; the pump also requires much more power. Flash is thus
an "asymmetrical" system, much more so than conventional RAM or hard drives.

Another problem with flash is that the floating gate suffers leakage that slowly releases the
charge. This is countered through the use of powerful surrounding insulators, but these require
a certain physical size in order to be useful and also require a specific physical layout, which is
different from the more typical CMOS layouts, which required several new fabrication techniques
to be introduced. As flash scales rapidly downward in size the charge leakage increasingly
becomes a problem, which led to predictions of its demise. However, massive market investment
drove development of flash at rates in excess of Moore's Law, and semiconductor fabrication
plants using 30 nm processes were brought online in late 2007.

In contrast to flash, PMC writes with relatively low power and at high speed. The speed is
inversely related to the power applied (to a point, there are mechanical limits), so the
performance can be tuned.[6]
PMC, in theory, can scale to sizes much smaller than flash, theoretically as small as a few ion
widths wide. Copper ions are about 0.75 angstroms,[7] so line widths on the order of nanometers
seem possible. PMC was promoted as simpler in layout than flash.[6]