Simulation of SET Operation in Phase-Change Random Access Memories with Heater Addition and Ring-Type Contactor for Low-Power Consumption by Finite Element Modeling

A three-dimensional finite element model for phase change random access memory （PCRAM） is established for comprehensive electrical and thermal analysis during SET operation. The SET behaviours of the heater addition structure （HS） and the ring-type contact in bottom electrode （RIB） structure are compared with each other. There are two ways to reduce the RESET current, applying a high resistivity interracial layer and building a new device structure. The simulation resuIts indicate that the variation of SET current with different power reduction ways is little. This study takes the RESET and SET operation current into consideration, showing that the RIB structure PCRAM cell is suitable for future devices with high heat efficiency and high-density, due to its high heat efficiency in RESET operation.     

Simulation of Voltage SET Operation in Phase-Change Random Access Memories with Heater Addition and Ring-Type Contactor for Low-Power Consumption by Finite Element Modeling

A three-dimensional finite element model for phase change random access memory is established to simulate electric, thermal and phase state distribution during （SET） operation. The model is applied to simulate the SET behaviors of the heater addition structure （HS） and the ring-type contact in the bottom electrode （RIB） structure. The simulation results indicate that the small bottom electrode contactor （BEC） is beneficial for heat efficiency and reliability in the HS cell, and the bottom electrode contactor with size Fx=80 nm is a good choice for the RIB cell. Also shown is that the appropriate SET pulse time is lOOns for the low power consumption and fast operation.     

Thermal Conductivity Measurement of Submicron-Thick Aluminium Oxide Thin Films by a Transient Thermo-Reflectance Technique

Thermal conductivity of submicron-thick aluminium oxide thin films prepared by middle frequency magnetron sputtering is measured using a transient thermo-reflectance technique. A three-layer model based on transmission line theory and the genetic algorithm optimization method are employed to obtain the thermal conductivity of thin films and the interracial thermal resistance. The results show that the average thermal conductivity of 330- 1000nm aluminium oxide thin films is 3.3 Wm^-1K^-1 at room temperature. No significant thickness dependence is found. The uncertainty of the measurement is less than 10%.     

Three-Dimensional Simulations of RESET Operation in Phase-Change Random Access Memory with Blade-Type Like Phase Change Layer by Finite Element Modeling

An optimized device structure for reducing the RESET current of phase-change random access memory(PCRAM)with blade-type like(BTL) phase change layer is proposed.The electrical thermal analysis of the BTL cell and the blade heater contactor structure by three-dimensional finite element modeling are compared with each other during RESET operation.The simulation results show that the programming region of the phase change layer in the BTL cell is much smaller,and thermal electrical distributions of the BTL cell are more concentrated on the TiN/GST interface.The results indicate that the BTL cell has the superiorities of increasing the heating efficiency,decreasing the power consumption and reducing the RESET current from 0.67 mA to 0.32 mA.Therefore,the BTL cell will be appropriate for high performance PCRAM device with lower power consumption and lower RESET current.     

Thermal Diffusivity of Film/Substrate Structures Characterized by Transient Thermal Grating Method

Transient thermal grating method is used to measure the thermal diffusivity of absorbing films deposited on transparent substrates. According to periodically modulated dielectric constant variations and thermoelastic deformations of the thin films caused by the transient thermal gratings, an improved optical diffraction theory is presented. In the experiment, the probing laser beam reflectively diffracted by the thermal grating is measured by a photomultiplier at different grating fringe spaces. The thermal diffusivity of the film can be evaluated by fitting the theoretical calculations of diffraction signals to the experimental measured data. The validity of the method is tested by measuring the thermal diffusivities of absorbing ZnO films deposited on glass substrates.     

Chalcogenide Random Access Memory Cell with Structure of W Sub-Microtube Heater Electrode

In order to reduce the reset current of cllalcogenide random access memory; a W sub-microtube heater electrode with outer/inner diameter of 260/100nm, which was fabricated with standard 0.184-μm technology, is proposed for the first time to achieve a reset current of about 0.5 mA. The reasons may be that sub-microtube increases the number of electrode edge and thermal efficiency is improved greatly because the thermal density on the edge of sub-microtube electrode is generally the highest.     

Current collapse and reliability of III‐N heterostructure field effect transistors

Measurements of GaN HFET lifetime as a function of temperature show that different degradation mechanisms are involved at low temperatures (close to room temperature) and high temperatures (above 150 °C). The degradation at low temperatures is linked to the trap generation and can be explained using the current collapse model. At higher tempe‐ ratures, other degradation mechanisms become important or even dominant. The current collapse related degradation can be diminished by using improved device design, which will greatly increase the overall lifetime (up to long lifetimes obtained by extrapolating high temperature data to room temperature). (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A fractal model for heat transfer of nanofluids by convection in a pool

Based on the fractal distribution of nanoparticles, a fractal model for heat transfer of nanofluids is presented in the Letter. Considering heat convection between nanoparticles and liquids due to the Brownian motion of nanoparticles in fluids, the formula of calculating heat flux of nanofluids by convection is given. The proposed model is expressed as a function of the average size of nanoparticle, concentration of nanoparticle, fractal dimension of nanoparticle, temperature and properties of fluids. It is shown that the fractal model is effectual according to a good agreement between the model predictions and experimental data.     

Calculation of the temperature and thermal expansion of a STM tip heated by a short laser pulse

A mathematical model for the calculation of the temperature field in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip under laser illumination is developed. The duration of the laser pulse is a few nanoseconds or shorter. A Gaussian distribution of the laser light intensity in time and space is assumed. Two different mechanisms of tip heating are taken into account: 1. due to an enhanced electric field on the tip; 2. due to heating of the side surface of the tip by the focused spot of laser light. An average tip temperature is calculated using the heat conductivity equation. The enhanced electric field on the tip is calculated by the method of boundary integral equations. Received: 20 August 2002 / Revised version: 4 December 2002 / Published online: 19 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-2551/962-490, E-mail: sklein@fh-muenster.de     

MHD Boundary Layer Flow of a Non-Newtonian Fluid on a Moving Surface with a Power-Law Velocity

A theoretical analysis for MHD boundary layer flow on a moving surface with the power-law velocity is presented. An accurate expression of the skin friction coefficient is derived. The analytical approximate solution is obtained by means of Adomian decomposition methods. The reliability and efficiency of the approximate solutions are verified by numerical ones in the literature.     

Transient thermal gratings at surfaces for thermal characterization of bulk materials and thin films

Transient Thermal Gratings (TTGs) at surfaces of absorbing materials have been utilized for investigating heat diffusion in bulk materials and thin films. In this report, we describe the theoretical background of the technique and present experimental data. TTGs were excited in the surface plane by interference of two pulsed laser beams and monitored by a cw probe beam, either via temperature dependence of the reflectivity or by deflection from the displacement pattern. A theoretical model describing the thermal and thermoelastic surface response was developed, both for a homogeneous material and a multilayer structure. The potential of the technique will be demonstrated by experimental results on (i) thermal diffusivities of bulk materials, (ii) anisotropic lateral heat transport, and (iii) thermal diffusivities of metal and diamond films. Furthermore, we will show that TTGs allow thermal depth profiling of inhomogeneous materials whenever there is a vertical gradient in thermal conductivity.     

Numerical Simulation of Random Close Packing with Tetrahedra

The densest packing of tetrahedra is still an unsolved problem. Numerical simulations of random close packing of tetrahedra are carried out with a sphere assembly model and improved relaxation algorithm. The packing density and average contact number obtained for random close packing of regular tetrahedra is 0.6817 and 7.21 respectively, while the values of spheres are 0.6435 and 5.95. The simulation demonstrates that tetrahedra can be randomly packed denser than spheres. Random close packings of tetrahedra with a range of height are simulated as well. We find that the regular tetrahedron might be the optimal shape which gives the highest packing density of tetrahedra.     

Co-Adsorption of CO in NO-CO Reaction on a Metal Catalytic Surface Studied by Computer Simulation

The effect of co-adsorption of CO molecules in the NO-CO reaction on a metal catalytic surface like Pt（001） is studied by applying the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism using the Monte Carlo simulations. The system is investigated by two approaches of NO adsorption; dissociatively at two empty surface sites and molecularly at a single vacant site. The elementary steps are the same as those in the conventional Ziff-Gulari-Barshad model. With the additional reaction step of co-adsorption, the sustained production of CO2 is obtained, which has never been seen on a square lattice without introducing additional parameters. The most interesting result is the elimination of continuous second order phase transition, i.e. the production of CO2 starts as soon as the partial pressure of CO departs from zero, which is in accordance with the experimental observations. The effect of co-adsorption probability on the phase diagrams has also been studied.     

Surface-functionalized nanoparticles with liquid-like behavior: The role of the constituent components

Ionically modified silica nanoparticles with large counter anions (sulfonate, isostearate) at two silica volume fractions (13 and 27%) form a viscous fluid and a glass but not crystalline solids. Dielectric spectroscopy, Brillouin scattering and shear rheometry were employed to investigate these new nanoparticle-based fluids. The glass transition temperature and hence the local dynamics are governed by the large counter anions, whereas the flow properties can be controlled by the spatial correlation between the nanoparticles, e.g. by tuning the volume fraction of hard cores and local interactions between segments in the soft corona. Liquid-like ordering of the cores was revealed by X-ray scattering and found to influence significantly the macroscopic flow properties of these salts.     

Transient Non-Thermal Mobility of CO for CO--NO Catalytic Reaction on Square Lattice: Monte Carlo Simulation

We study a model based on precursor mechanism for CO-NO catalytic reaction on square lattice with Monte Carlo simulation. The precursor mechanism clearly demonstrates its impact on the phase diagram. The steady reactive state （SRS） gets established. The width of reactive region increases by increasing the range of precursor mobility. When the precursor mobility is increased to third-nearest neighbourhood, the second-order transition disappears.     

Improvement of Electrical Properties of the Ge2Sb2Te5 Film by Doping Si for Phase-Change Random Access Memory

Si-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 films have been prepared by dc magnetron co-sputtering with Ge2Sb2Te5 and Si targets. The addition of Si in the Ge2Sb2Te5 film results in the increase of both crystallization temperature and phasetransition temperature from face-centred-cubic （fcc） phase to hexagonal （hex） phase. The resistivity of the Ge2Sb2Te5 film shows a significant increase with the Si doping. When doping 11.8 at.% of Si in the film, the resistivity after 460℃ annealing increases from 1 to 11 mΩ.cm and dynamic resistance increase from 64 to 99Ω compared to the undoped Ge2Sb2Te5 film. This is very helpful to writing current reduction of phase-change random access memory.     

Modelling of Phase Change Heat Transfer System for Micro-channel and Chaos Simulation

The dynamic properties for the micro-channel phase change heat transfer system are studied by theoretical method combined with experiment. Liquid-vapour interface dynamic systems are obtained by introducing disjoining pressure produced by three phase molecular interactions and Lie algebra analysis. Experiments for 0.6 mm×2 mm rectangular micro-channel are carried out to obtain the pressure time serials. Power spectrum density analysis for these serials shows that the system is in chaotic state if the frequency is above 7.39 Hz. The result indicates that the high heat transfer performance of the micro channel phase change system may relate to the characteristics of chaos, The chaos attractor is drawn by the simulation of the obtained differential dynamic system under the conditions of our experiment.     

Infrared thermography of impact-driven thermal effects

The attention of this note is focused on the use of an infrared imaging system to monitor the unsteady thermal response of a glass fibre-reinforced polymer material to impact load. On the monitored surface during impact, the material undergoes first a cooling down due to thermo-elastic effects and then heating up because of dissipation of the impact mechanical energy. Mainly within the elastic phase, temperature variations occur during a very short time (fractions of seconds) and, thus, their visualisation can be performed only with a high-frequency imaging device. In this work, measurements were performed essentially during the elastic phase with the FLIR ThermaCam SC3000, which allows for a frame rate up to 900 Hz.     

Finite Element Analysis of Convection in Growth Cell for Diamond Growth Using Ni-Based Solvent

Thermal-electricaJ-fluid coupled finite element analyses are performed in the model of the growth cell in a high-pressure and high-temperature （HPHT） cubic apparatus in which the large diamond crystal can be grown by using Ni-based solvent with temperature gradient method （TGM）. The convection in the Ni-based solvent with different thicknesses at 1700-1800 K is simulated by finite element method （FEM）. The experiments of diamond crystal growth are also carried out by using Ni-based solvent at 5.7GPa and 1700-1800K in a China-type cubic high pressure apparatus （CHPA）. The simulation results show that the Rayleigh number in the solvent is enhanced obviously with the increasing solvent thickness. Good quality diamond single crystal cannot be grown if the Rayleigh number in the solvent is too high.     

Functionalization of carbon nanofibers with elastomeric block copolymer using carbodiimide chemistry

Surface functionalization of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with aminopropyl terminated polydimethylsiloxane [(PDMS-NH₂)] and other organic diamines was achieved using carbodiimide chemistry. The carbodiimide chemistry provides faster reaction rate so that the reaction occurs at lower temperature compared to amidation and acylation-amidation chemistry. CNF functionalized with PDMS-NH₂ fibers were further functionalized with oligomer of polyimide (6FDA-BisP) using imidization reaction. The formation of block copolymer on the surface of CNF is proposed as an effective method to engineer the interphase between the fiber and the polymer, which is essential to modulate and enhance the properties of the nanocomposite. The efficiency of the carbodiimide chemistry to functionalize amine terminated groups on CNF and the functionalization of block copolymer was characterized using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis spectroscopy.