Tim Turner, the Reliability Center Business Development Manager
at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE),
Albany, NY, blogs about the potential of resistive memory and
the reliability challenges the must be overcome. Resistive
Memory, RRAM or Memristors is a hot topic right now. RRAM has
the potential for single digit nano parameters (speed as fast as
1 ns, area per bit as small as 5 square nm) and is non-volatile.
The technology is based on the formation of a small conductive
filament inside an insulator. The filament is formed the first
time using a high voltage. After that, set or reset
transformation (conductive to non-conductive or visa versa) is
accomplished by moving one or a few atoms an atomic scale
distance. This can be done with a low voltage (less than a
volt). This small movement gives a repeatable set or reset that
can withstand many cycles. Conduction in the filament appears to
be due to oxygen vacancies existing in a percolation path
through the insulator. A small electric fi