Heat dissipation in resistive memories

A semiconductor memory device, comprising:

• a substrate;
• an insulating layer formed over the substrate;
• a thermally conductive horizontal crossbar layer of copper formed at a first thickness over the insulating layer for thermal dissipation of heat horizontally away from a memory cell during set and reset operations of the memory cell;
• a horizontal crossbar electrode of platinum formed on the thermally conductive horizontal crossbar layer at a second thickness less than the first thickness;
• a resistive switching memory layer for the memory cell formed over the horizontal crossbar electrode of platinum, the resistive switching memory layer comprising tantalum oxide;
• a vertical crossbar electrode formed at a third thickness over the resistive switching memory layer;
• and
• a thermally conductive vertical crossbar layer of copper formed at a fourth thickness different than the third thickness over the vertical crossbar electrode for thermal dissipation of heat vertically away from the memory cell during the set and reset operations of the memory cell, wherein:
• the thermally conductive vertical crossbar layer comprises copper and a graphene layer for thermal dissipation.