Abstract
Negative differential resistance behavior in oxide memristors, especially those using NbO
2
, is gaining renewed interest because of its potential utility in neuromorphic computing. However, ...there has been a decade-long controversy over whether the negative differential resistance is caused by a relatively low-temperature non-linear transport mechanism or a high-temperature Mott transition. Resolving this issue will enable consistent and robust predictive modeling of this phenomenon for different applications. Here we examine NbO
2
memristors that exhibit both a current-controlled and a temperature-controlled negative differential resistance. Through thermal and chemical spectromicroscopy and numerical simulations, we confirm that the former is caused by a ~400 K non-linear-transport-driven instability and the latter is caused by the ~1000 K Mott metal-insulator transition, for which the thermal conductance counter-intuitively decreases in the metallic state relative to the insulating state.
Transition-metal-oxide memristors, or resistive random-access memory (RRAM) switches, are under intense development for storage-class memory because of their favorable operating power, endurance, ...speed, and density. Their commercial deployment critically depends on predictive compact models based on understanding nanoscale physicochemical forces, which remains elusive and controversial owing to the difficulties in directly observing atomic motions during resistive switching, Here, using scanning transmission synchrotron X-ray spectromicroscopy to study in situ switching of hafnium oxide memristors, we directly observed the formation of a localized oxygen-deficiency-derived conductive channel surrounded by a low-conductivity ring of excess oxygen. Subsequent thermal annealing homogenized the segregated oxygen, resetting the cells toward their as-grown resistance state. We show that the formation and dissolution of the conduction channel are successfully modeled by radial thermophoresis and Fick diffusion of oxygen atoms driven by Joule heating. This confirmation and quantification of two opposing nanoscale radial forces that affect bipolar memristor switching are important components for any future physics-based compact model for the electronic switching of these devices.
A fully electronic variable optical attenuator in the near-infrared region is reported. The observed attenuation varied from 0 to 19.24 dB. The device is enabled by the strong correlation between the ...electrical and optical properties in vanadium dioxide thin films across its phase transition. A self-sensing feedback approach is used to significantly reduce the inherently hysteretic behavior of the film. The reduction of the hysteresis, sensing the electrical resistance with respect to the optical transmission, allowed for a relatively simple approach for the modeling and control of the system.
Abstract
Magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) based on voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) is a promising candidate for high-performance computing applications, ...due to its lower power consumption, higher bit density, and the ability to reduce the access transistor size when compared to conventional current-controlled spin-transfer torque MRAM. The key to realizing these advantages is to have a low MTJ switching voltage. Here, we report a perpendicular MTJ structure with a high voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy coefficient ~130 fJ/Vm and high tunnel magnetoresistance exceeding 150%. Owing to the high voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy coefficient, we demonstrate sub-nanosecond precessional switching of nanoscale MTJs with diameters of 50 and 70 nm, using a voltage lower than 1 V. We also show scaling of this switching mechanism down to 30 nm MTJs, with voltages close to 2 V. The results pave the path for the future development and application of voltage-controlled MRAMs and spintronic devices in emerging computing systems.
Beyond use as high density non-volatile memories, memristors have potential as synaptic components of neuromorphic systems. We investigated the suitability of tantalum oxide (TaOx) ...transistor-memristor (1T1R) arrays for such applications, particularly the ability to accurately, repeatedly, and rapidly reach arbitrary conductance states. Programming is performed by applying an adaptive pulsed algorithm that utilizes the transistor gate voltage to control the SET switching operation and increase programming speed of the 1T1R cells. We show the capability of programming 64 conductance levels with <0.5% average accuracy using 100 ns pulses and studied the trade-offs between programming speed and programming error. The algorithm is also utilized to program 16 conductance levels on a population of cells in the 1T1R array showing robustness to cell-to-cell variability. In general, the proposed algorithm results in approximately 10× improvement in programming speed over standard algorithms that do not use the transistor gate to control memristor switching. In addition, after only two programming pulses (an initialization pulse followed by a programming pulse), the resulting conductance values are within 12% of the target values in all cases. Finally, endurance of more than 106 cycles is shown through open-loop (single pulses) programming across multiple conductance levels using the optimized gate voltage of the transistor. These results are relevant for applications that require high speed, accurate, and repeatable programming of the cells such as in neural networks and analog data processing.
With the fast growth of the number of electronic devices on the internet of things (IoT), hardware‐based security primitives such as physically unclonable functions (PUFs) have emerged to overcome ...the shortcomings of conventional software‐based cryptographic technology. Existing PUFs exploit manufacturing process variations in a semiconductor foundry technology. This results in a static challenge–response behavior, which can present a long‐term security risk. This study shows a reconfigurable PUF based on nanoscale magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) arrays that uses stochastic dynamics induced by voltage‐controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) for true random bit generation. A total of 100 PUF instances are implemented using 10 ns voltage pulses on a single chip with a 10 × 10 MTJ array. The unipolar nature of the VCMA mechanism is exploited to stabilize the MTJ state and eliminate bit errors during readout. All PUF instances show entropy close to one, inter‐Hamming distance close to 50%, and no bit errors in 104 repeated readout measurements.
Magnetic tunnel junction arrays are used to realize physically unclonable functions (PUFs), where challenge–response pairs are reconfigured in a fast and energy‐efficient manner using the voltage‐controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect. VCMA also stabilizes the bits during readout by using a reverse bias voltage, enhancing the PUF reliability. The VCMA‐based PUF serves as a hardware security platform in CMOS+spintronics integrated circuits.
Memristor devices have been extensively studied as one of the most promising technologies for next-generation non-volatile memory. However, for the memristor devices to have a real technological ...impact, they must be densely packed in a large crossbar array (CBA) exceeding Gigabytes in size. Devising a selector device that is CMOS compatible, 3D stackable, and has a high non-linearity (NL) and great endurance is a crucial enabling ingredient to reach this goal. Tunneling based selectors are very promising in these aspects, but the mediocre NL value limits their applications in large passive crossbar arrays. In this work, we demonstrated a trilayer tunneling selector based on the Ge/Pt/TaN
1+x
/Ta
2
O
5
/TaN
1+x
/Pd layers that could achieve a NL of 3 × 10
5
, which is the highest NL achieved using a tunnel selector so far. The record-high tunneling NL is partially attributed to the bottom electrode's ultra-smoothness (BE) induced by a Ge/Pt layer. We further demonstrated the feasibility of 1S1R (1-selector 1-resistor) integration by vertically integrating a Pd/Ta
2
O
5
/Ru based memristor on top of the proposed selector.
This letter reports the use of programmed optical states in a vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) thin film for the projection of near infrared (NIR) images. The optical states are programmed by photothermal ...actuation from scanning a focused red laser on localized regions of the VO 2 thin film. The abrupt change in transmissivity of NIR wavelengths across VO 2 's solid-to-solid phase change is used to reflect a diffused NIR beam in the regions scanned by the red laser. The transmitted NIR beam is projected on a laser beam profiler. The results of a single scan from the red laser show images with a high contrast between the two phases of the material.
Using memristor crossbar arrays to accelerate computations is a promising approach to efficiently implement algorithms in deep neural networks. Early demonstrations, however, are limited to ...simulations or small‐scale problems primarily due to materials and device challenges that limit the size of the memristor crossbar arrays that can be reliably programmed to stable and analog values, which is the focus of the current work. High‐precision analog tuning and control of memristor cells across a 128 × 64 array is demonstrated, and the resulting vector matrix multiplication (VMM) computing precision is evaluated. Single‐layer neural network inference is performed in these arrays, and the performance compared to a digital approach is assessed. Memristor computing system used here reaches a VMM accuracy equivalent of 6 bits, and an 89.9% recognition accuracy is achieved for the 10k MNIST handwritten digit test set. Forecasts show that with integrated (on chip) and scaled memristors, a computational efficiency greater than 100 trillion operations per second per Watt is possible.
Large memristor arrays composed of hafnium oxide are demonstrated with suitability for computing matrix operations at higher power efficiency than digital systems. The nonmemory application of memristors is performed in an analog computing platform. Computational operations with 6 bit equivalent precision are shown and utilized to directly compute neural network inference within a memristor crossbar.
This paper reports a multiple-state micro-mechanical memory. The tip displacements of a 350
μm long VO
2-coated micro-mechanical silicon cantilever were programmed to absolute displacements ranging ...from −19 to −7
m. Ten non-uniform mechanical states were programmed using controlled linearly increasing laser pulses. The uniformity of the mechanical states was improved by using non-linearly increasing laser pulses. The programmed states are reset by driving the VO
2 outside the hysteretic region.
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