ABSTRACT
Nonvolatile memory (NVM) plays an important role in the daily life as data storage for mobile devices, memory cards, and solid-state disks in this information era. Phase-change memory (PCM) may be the most promising competitor for the next-generation NVM. Although PCM has many attractive features, its adoption also has many challenges to overcome, especially in respect to the scaling limit and cell array reliability. Numerical simulation of a PCM cell can be divided into two parts: ovonic threshold switching, and ovonic memory switching. The establishment of an accurate and effective cell model is key for PCM to achieve the circuit-level design simulation. In recent years, despite many PCM research directions, the simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis models proposed are mostly based on behavior characteristics and only a few models are recognized by the industry. The impedance model is mainly used to study the DC and AC IV characteristics of a PCM cell.
