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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,657 records · Page 92
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Precision spectral manipulation: A demonstration using a coherent optical memory

The ability to coherently spectrally manipulate quantum information has the potential to improve qubit rates across quantum channels and find applications in optical quantum computing. Here we present experiments that use a multi-element solenoid combined with the three-level gradient echo memory scheme to perform precision spectral manipulation of optical pulses. If applied in a quantum information network, these operations would enable frequency-based multiplexing of qubits.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Materials selection for oxide-based resistive random access memories

The energies of atomic processes in resistive random access memories (RRAMs) are calculated for four typical oxides, HfO{sub 2}, TiO{sub 2}, Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5}, and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, to define a materials selection process. O vacancies have the lowest defect formation energy in the O-poor limit and dominate the processes. A band diagram defines the operating Fermi energy and O chemical potential range. It is shown how the scavenger metal can be used to vary the O vacancy formation energy, via controlling the O chemical potential, and the mean Fermi energy. The high endurance of Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5} RRAM is related to its more stable amorphous phase and the adaptive lattice rearrangements of its O vacancy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

In-situ crystallization of GeTe\GaSb phase change memory stacked films

Single and double layer phase change memory structures based on GeTe and GaSb thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Their crystallization behavior was studied using in-situ synchrotron techniques. Electrical resistance vs. temperature investigations, using the four points probe method, showed transition temperatures of 138 °C and 198 °C for GeTe and GaSb single films, respectively. It was found that after GeTe crystallization in the stacked films, Ga atoms from the GaSb layer diffused in the vacancies of the GeTe crystalline structure. Therefore, the crystallization temperature of the Sb-rich GaSb layer is decreased by more than 30 °C. Furthermore, at 210 °C, the antimony excess from GaSb films crystallizes as a secondary phase. At higher annealing temperatures, the crystalline Sb phase increased on the expense of GaSb crystalline phase which was reduced. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements at the Ga and Ge K-edges revealed changes in their local atomic environments as a function of the annealing temperature. Simulations unveil a tetrahedral configuration in the amorphous state and octahedral configuration in the crystalline state for Ge atoms, while Ga is four-fold coordinated in both as-deposited and annealed samples.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

High thermal stability and low density variation of carbon-doped Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} for phase-change memory application

Carbon-doped Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} (GSTC) film has been experimentally studied as a thermal stable material for high temperature applications. The 10-yr data retention temperature is remarkably increased through C doping. Furthermore, GSTC films have better interface properties after annealing at 410 °C for 30 min. The density variation of GSTC film is significantly improved, which is very important to device reliability. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results reveal that the thermal stability enhancement of GSTC film attributes to the forming of C-Ge, C-Sb, and C-Te bonds. The perfect thermal stability makes GSTC materials a good candidate in the actual production of phase-change memory.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Impact of total ionizing dose irradiation on Pt/SrBi{sub 2}Ta{sub 2}O{sub 9}/HfTaO/Si memory capacitors

In this work, metal-ferroelectric-insulator-semiconductor (MFIS) structure capacitors with SrBi{sub 2}Ta{sub 2}O{sub 9} (300 nm) as ferroelectric thin film and HfTaO (6 nm, 8 nm, 10 nm, and 12 nm) as insulating buffer layer were proposed and investigated. The prepared capacitors were fabricated and characterized before radiation and then subjected to {sup 60}Co gamma irradiation in steps of two dose levels. Significant irradiation-induced degradation of the electrical characteristics was observed. The radiation experimental results indicated that stability and reliability of as-fabricated MFIS capacitors for nonvolatile memory applications could become uncontrollable under strong irradiation dose and/or long irradiation time.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

High thermal stability Sb{sub 3}Te-TiN{sub 2} material for phase change memory application

For phase change memory (PCM) applications, it has been widely accepted that δ phase Sb-Te has fast operation speed and good phase stability. However, the fast growth crystallization mechanism will cause poor amorphous phase stability and overlarge grain size. We introduce TiN{sub 2} into δ phase Sb-Te (Sb{sub 3}Te) to enhance the amorphous thermal stability and refine the grain size. With TiN{sub 2} incorporating, the temperature for 10-year data retention increases from 79 °C to 124 °C. And the grain size decreases to dozens of nanometers scale. Based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy results, we knew that nitrogen atoms bond with titanium, forming disorder region at the grain boundary of Sb{sub 3}Te-TiN{sub 2} (STTN). Thus, STTN has a quite different crystallization mechanism from Sb{sub 3}Te. Furthermore, PCM device based on STTN can realize reversible phase change under 20 ns electrical pulse.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Cu impurity in insulators and in metal-insulator-metal structures: Implications for resistance-switching random access memories

We present numerical results from atomistic simulations of Cu in SiO{sub 2} and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, with an emphasis on the thermodynamic, kinetic, and electronic properties. The calculated properties of Cu impurity at various concentrations (9.91 × 10{sup 20 }cm{sup −3} and 3.41 × 10{sup 22 }cm{sup −3}) in bulk oxides are presented. The metal-insulator interfaces result in up to a ∼4 eV reduction in the formation energies relative to the crystalline bulk. Additionally, the importance of Cu-Cu interaction in lowering the chemical potential is introduced. These concepts are then discussed in the context of formation and stability of localized conductive paths in resistance-switching Random Access Memories (RRAM-M). The electronic density of states and non-equilibrium transmission through these localized paths are studied, confirming conduction by showing three orders of magnitude increase in the electron transmission. The dynamic behavior of the conductive paths is investigated with atomistic drift-diffusion calculations. Finally, the paper concludes with a molecular dynamics simulation of a RRAM-M cell that attempts to combine the aforementioned phenomena in one self-consistent model.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Calculation of energy-barrier lowering by incoherent switching in spin-transfer torque magnetoresistive random-access memory

To make a useful spin-transfer torque magnetoresistive random-access memory (STT-MRAM) device, it is necessary to be able to calculate switching rates, which determine the error rates of the device. In a single-macrospin model, one can use a Fokker-Planck equation to obtain a low-current thermally activated rate ∝exp(−E{sub eff}/k{sub B}T). Here, the effective energy barrier E{sub eff} scales with the single-macrospin energy barrier KV, where K is the effective anisotropy energy density and V the volume. A long-standing paradox in this field is that the actual energy barrier appears to be much smaller than this. It has been suggested that incoherent motions may lower the barrier, but this has proved difficult to quantify. In the present paper, we show that the coherent precession has a magnetostatic instability, which allows quantitative estimation of the energy barrier and may resolve the paradox.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Sub-band transport mechanism and switching properties for resistive switching nonvolatile memories with structure of silver/aluminum oxide/p-type silicon

In this paper, we discuss a model of sub-band in resistive switching nonvolatile memories with a structure of silver/aluminum oxide/p-type silicon (Ag/Al{sub x}O{sub y}/p-Si), in which the sub-band is formed by overlapping of wave functions of electron-occupied oxygen vacancies in Al{sub x}O{sub y} layer deposited by atomic layer deposition technology. The switching processes exhibit the characteristics of the bipolarity, discreteness, and no need of forming process, all of which are discussed deeply based on the model of sub-band. The relationships between the SET voltages and distribution of trap levels are analyzed qualitatively. The semiconductor-like behaviors of ON-state resistance affirm the sub-band transport mechanism instead of the metal filament mechanism.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Direct probing of electron and hole trapping into nano-floating-gate in organic field-effect transistor nonvolatile memories

Electron and hole trapping into the nano-floating-gate of a pentacene-based organic field-effect transistor nonvolatile memory is directly probed by Kelvin probe force microscopy. The probing is straightforward and non-destructive. The measured surface potential change can quantitatively profile the charge trapping, and the surface characterization results are in good accord with the corresponding device behavior. Both electrons and holes can be trapped into the nano-floating-gate, with a preference of electron trapping than hole trapping. The trapped charge quantity has an approximately linear relation with the programming/erasing gate bias, indicating that the charge trapping in the device is a field-controlled process.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Single-crystalline CuO nanowires for resistive random access memory applications

Recently, the mechanism of resistive random access memory (RRAM) has been partly clarified and determined to be controlled by the forming and erasing of conducting filaments (CF). However, the size of the CF may restrict the application and development as devices are scaled down. In this work, we synthesized CuO nanowires (NW) (∼150 nm in diameter) to fabricate a CuO NW RRAM nanodevice that was much smaller than the filament (∼2 μm) observed in a bulk CuO RRAM device in a previous study. HRTEM indicated that the Cu{sub 2}O phase was generated after operation, which demonstrated that the filament could be minimize to as small as 3.8 nm when the device is scaled down. In addition, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) show the resistive switching of the dielectric layer resulted from the aggregated oxygen vacancies, which also match with the I-V fitting results. Those results not only verify the switching mechanism of CuO RRAM but also show RRAM has the potential to shrink in size, which will be beneficial to the practical application of RRAM devices.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Characteristics and mechanism study of cerium oxide based random access memories

In this work, low operating voltage and high resistance ratio of different resistance states of binary transition metal oxide based resistive random access memories (RRAMs) are demonstrated. Binary transition metal oxides with high dielectric constant have been explored for RRAM application for years. However, CeO{sub x} is considered as a relatively new material to other dielectrics. Since research on CeO{sub x} based RRAM is still at preliminary stage, fundamental characteristics of RRAM such as scalability and mechanism studies need to be done before moving further. Here, we show very high operation window and low switching voltage of CeO{sub x} RRAMs and also compare electrical performance of Al/CeO{sub x}/Au system between different thin film deposition methods and discuss characteristics and resistive switching mechanism.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Influence of cooling rate in planar thermally assisted magnetic random access memory: Improved writeability due to spin-transfer-torque influence

This paper investigates the effect of a controlled cooling rate on magnetic field reversal assisted by spin transfer torque (STT) in thermally assisted magnetic random access memory. By using a gradual linear decrease of the voltage at the end of the write pulse, the STT decays more slowly or at least at the same rate as the temperature. This condition is necessary to make sure that the storage layer magnetization remains in the desired written direction during cooling of the cell. The influence of the write current pulse decay rate was investigated on two exchange biased synthetic ferrimagnet (SyF) electrodes. For a NiFe based electrode, a significant improvement in writing reproducibility was observed using a gradual linear voltage transition. The write error rate decreases by a factor of 10 when increasing the write pulse fall-time from ∼3 ns to 70 ns. For comparison, a second CoFe/NiFe based electrode was also reversed by magnetic field assisted by STT. In this case, no difference between sharp and linear write pulse fall shape was observed. We attribute this observation to the higher thermal stability of the CoFe/NiFe electrode during cooling. In real-time measurements of the magnetization reversal, it was found that Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) coupling in the SyF electrode vanishes for the highest pulse voltages that were used due to the high temperature reached during write. As a result, during the cooling phase, the final state is reached through a spin-flop transition of the SyF storage layer.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

A Monte Carlo simulation for bipolar resistive memory switching in large band-gap oxides

A model that describes bilayered bipolar resistive random access memory (BL-ReRAM) switching in oxide with a large band gap is presented. It is shown that, owing to the large energy barrier between the electrode and thin oxide layer, the electronic conduction is dominated by trap-assisted tunneling. The model is composed of an atomic oxygen vacancy migration model and an electronic tunneling conduction model. We also show experimentally observed three-resistance-level switching in Ru/ZrO{sub 2}/TaO{sub x} BL-ReRAM that can be explained by the two types of traps, i.e., shallow and deep traps in ZrO{sub 2}.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Communication: Memory effects and active Brownian diffusion

A self-propelled artificial microswimmer is often modeled as a ballistic Brownian particle moving with constant speed aligned along one of its axis, but changing direction due to random collisions with the environment. Similarly to thermal noise, its angular randomization is described as a memoryless stochastic process. Here, we speculate that finite-time correlations in the orientational dynamics can affect the swimmer’s diffusivity. To this purpose, we propose and solve two alternative models. In the first one, we simply assume that the environmental fluctuations governing the swimmer’s propulsion are exponentially correlated in time, whereas in the second one, we account for possible damped fluctuations of the propulsion velocity around the swimmer’s axis. The corresponding swimmer’s diffusion constants are predicted to get, respectively, enhanced or suppressed upon increasing the model memory time. Possible consequences of this effect on the interpretation of the experimental data are discussed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dynamics of the stochastic Lorenz chaotic system with long memory effects

Little seems to be known about the ergodic dynamics of stochastic systems with fractional noise. This paper is devoted to discern such long time dynamics through the stochastic Lorenz chaotic system (SLCS) with long memory effects. By a truncation technique, the SLCS is proved to generate a continuous stochastic dynamical system Λ. Based on the Krylov-Bogoliubov criterion, the required Lyapunov function is further established to ensure the existence of the invariant measure of Λ. Meanwhile, the uniqueness of the invariant measure of Λ is proved by examining the strong Feller property, together with an irreducibility argument. Therefore, the SLCS has exactly one adapted stationary solution.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

A stochastic simulation method for the assessment of resistive random access memory retention reliability

This study presents an evaluation method for resistive random access memory retention reliability based on the Metropolis Monte Carlo algorithm and Gibbs free energy. The method, which does not rely on a time evolution, provides an extremely efficient way to compare the relative retention properties of metal-insulator-metal structures. It requires a small number of iterations and may be used for statistical analysis. The presented approach is used to compare the relative robustness of a single layer ZrO{sub 2} device with a double layer ZnO/ZrO{sub 2} one, and obtain results which are in good agreement with experimental data.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Evidence for thermally assisted threshold switching behavior in nanoscale phase-change memory cells

In spite of decades of research, the details of electrical transport in phase-change materials are still debated. In particular, the so-called threshold switching phenomenon that allows the current density to increase steeply when a sufficiently high voltage is applied is still not well understood, even though there is wide consensus that threshold switching is solely of electronic origin. However, the high thermal efficiency and fast thermal dynamics associated with nanoscale phase-change memory (PCM) devices motivate us to reassess a thermally assisted threshold switching mechanism, at least in these devices. The time/temperature dependence of the threshold switching voltage and current in doped Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} nanoscale PCM cells was measured over 6 decades in time at temperatures ranging from 40 °C to 160 °C. We observe a nearly constant threshold switching power across this wide range of operating conditions. We also measured the transient dynamics associated with threshold switching as a function of the applied voltage. By using a field- and temperature-dependent description of the electrical transport combined with a thermal feedback, quantitative agreement with experimental data of the threshold switching dynamics was obtained using realistic physical parameters.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗