Threshold switching and phase transition numerical models for phase change memory simulations

A comprehensive numerical model for chalcogenide glasses is presented, coupling a physically based electrical model able to reproduce the threshold switching with a local nucleation and growth algorithm to account for the phase transition dynamics. The main ingredients of the chalcogenide physics are reviewed and analyzed through simplified analytical models, providing a deeper insight on the origin of the threshold switching mechanism in chalcogenide glasses. A semiconductorlike three-dimensional full-coupled numerical implementation of the proposed model is finally presented and its capabilities to quantitatively reproduce the key elements of the Ge2Sb2Te5 chalcogenide physics are demonstrated in the framework of phase change memory device simulations. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.