Nanoscale Resistive Random Access Memories

Non-volatile “flash” memories have long been used in portable devices and are now being considered as a replacement for the magnetic hard disk drive technology in computers. Despite this commercial success, the semiconductor industry is heavily investing in the research for alternative technologies that have better potential for scaling down the size of the memory cell, with performance being comparable. In this respect, non-volatile resistive random access memories represent the most promising technology for future data storage devices. In these memories, the switching mechanism is due to the drift of Oxygen vacancies in oxide semiconductors, under the application of an electric field. Here we propose a way to strictly confine the effect within the device area, which is the key issue for high integration. Arrays of nano-size bit-cells will be fabricated and characterized to verify reliability and manufacturability of the memories.