Kurinec, S.K.; Mukherjee, S.; Devasia, A.; Raoux, S.; Jordan-Sweet, J.; MacMahon, D.: XRD/TEM/EELS Studies on Memory Device Structures. In: Proceedings of the 2015 Conference Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics, Dresden, April 14-16, 2015, 2015, p. 47-49
http://www.nist.gov/pml/div683/conference/upload/kurinec.pdf
Open Access Version
Abstract:
Over the past decade, numerous emerging memory technologies are being considered as contenders to displace either or both NAND flash and DRAM as scaling limitations of these conventional memories are perceived for applications in mobile devices. Some of these include Magnetic and Spin Transfer Torque Random Access Memory (MRAM, STTRAM), Phase Change RAM (PCRAM), Ferroelectric RAM and Resistive RAM memories. These technologies can be classified as relying on one of the movements: atomic, ionic, electron charge or spin in nanoscale thin films comprising of a variety of materials. The literature shows about 50 elements of the periodic table being investigated for these memory applications owing to their unique physical and chemical properties. Engineering memory devices requires nanoscale characterizations of film stacks for their chemical compositions and crystalline nature in addition to electronic properties such as resistance, magnetization and polarization depending upon the principle involved. This paper focuses on how x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) techniques have been employed to obtain insight into engineering magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) and PCM devices.