Phase change memory (pcm) cell with thermoelectric heating and cooling
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsGuy Moshe Cohen, Takashi Ando, Nanbo Gong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A phase change material (PCM) array includes a plurality of word lines, a plurality of bit lines, and a plurality of PCM cells, in which each bit line is bridged to a word line by a PCM cell, of the plurality of PCM cells, in series with a transistor. Each PCM cell includes a plurality of layers of a thermoelectric material and a plurality of layers of a phase change material in which one of the plurality of layers of the thermoelectric material is a highly oriented seeding layer and the plurality of layers of the thermoelectric material and the plurality of layers of the PCM are alternating layers within the PCM cell.
Claims20
A phase change material (PCM) array comprising:
- a plurality of word lines;
- a plurality of bit lines;
- and
- a plurality of PCM cells,
- wherein each bit line is bridged to a word line by a PCM cell, of the plurality of PCM cells, in series with a transistor, and
- wherein, each PCM cell comprises:
- a plurality of layers of a thermoelectric material;
- and
- a plurality of layers of a phase change material (PCM),
- wherein:
- one of the plurality of layers of the thermoelectric material is a highly oriented seeding layer;
- and
- the plurality of layers of the thermoelectric material and the plurality of layers of the PCM are alternating layers within the PCM cell.
A method of operating a memory cell, the method comprising:
- receiving, by circuitry, a request to perform a memory write operation of a phase change memory (PCM) cell;
- responsive to receiving the request to perform the memory write operation, selecting, by the circuitry, a first polarity of a current pulse between a top electrode and a bottom electrode of the PCM cell;
- receiving, by the circuitry, a request to perform a memory read operation of the PCM cell;
- and
- responsive to receiving the request to perform the memory read operation, selecting, by the circuitry, a second polarity of the current pulse between the top electrode and the bottom electrode of the PCM cell,
- wherein selecting the first polarity of the current pulse causes a superlattice of thermoelectric material of the PCM cell to heat the PCM cell and selecting the second polarity of the current pulse causes the superlattice of thermoelectric material of the PCM cell to cool the PCM cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.