Selector device for two-terminal memory

A semiconductor device comprises:

• a semiconductor substrate;
• a selector device disposed above the semiconductor substrate, wherein the selector device comprises:
• a first electrode disposed above the semiconductor substrate, wherein the first electrode comprises a first plurality of metal particles, wherein the first electrode is configured to generate conductive ions of the first plurality of metal particles, in response to a first bias applied across the selector device, wherein a magnitude of the first bias exceeds a magnitude of a first bias threshold;
• a second electrode disposed above the semiconductor substrate, wherein the second electrode comprises a second plurality of metal particles, wherein the second electrode is configured to generate conductive ions of the second plurality of metal particles, in response to a second bias applied across the selector device, wherein a polarity of the first bias is opposite of a polarity of the second bias;
• and
• an insulating material layer disposed adjacent to and in contact with the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the insulating material layer comprises a selector material having a plurality of defects in absence of a bias being applied across the selector device, wherein the insulating material layer is selected from a group consisting of:
• an undoped amorphous silicon material, a non-stoichiometric oxide, SiOx, TaOb (where b is a suitable positive number), HfOc (where c is a suitable positive number), TiOd (where d is a suitable number), and Al2Oe (where e is a suitable positive number), wherein the insulating material layer is configured to allow conductive ions of the first plurality of metal particles to occupy first defect locations from the plurality of defects in response to the first bias applied across the selector device, and wherein the insulating material layer is configured to allow conductive ions of the second plurality of metal particles to occupy second defect locations from the plurality of defects in response to the second bias applied across the selector device;
• and
• a two-terminal memory disposed above the insulated semiconductor substrate and coupled in series with the selector device.

A method of operating a semiconductor device having a memory device including a selector device and a two-terminal memory component, comprising:

• applying a first switching voltage of a first polarity to a first terminal of the memory device, the first switching voltage having a magnitude larger than a first threshold voltage associated with the selector device, thereby:
• generating conductive ions of a first plurality of metal particles in a first electrode of the selector device, disposing the conductive ions of the first plurality of metal particles into first defect locations of a selector material of the selector device that is disposed adjacent to the first electrode, and performing a first memory operation on the two-terminal memory component;
• and
• applying a second switching voltage of a second polarity to the first terminal of the memory device, the second switching voltage having a magnitude larger than a second threshold voltage associated with the selector device, thereby:
• generating conductive ions of a second plurality of metal particles in a second electrode of the selector device, disposing the conductive ions of the second plurality of metal particles into second defect locations of the selector material of the selector device that is disposed adjacent to the second electrode, and performing a second memory operation on the two-terminal memory component.