Behavioral Current-Voltage Model with Intermediate States for Unipolar Resistive Memories

Abstract

In this paper, a behavioral current-voltage model with intermediate states is proposed for analog applications of unipolar resistive memories, where intermediate resistance values between SET and RESET state are used to store analog data. In this model, SET and RESET behaviors are unified into one equation by the blending function and the percentage volume fraction of each region is modeled by the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (JMA) equation that can describe the time-dependent phase transformation of unipolar memory. The proposed model is verified by the measured results of TiO₂ unipolar memory and tested by the SPECTRE circuit simulation with CMOS read and write circuits for unipolar resistive memories. With the proposed model, we also show that the behavioral model that combines the blending equation and JMA kinetics can universally describe not only unipolar memories but also bipolar ones. This universal behavioral model can be useful in practical applications, where various kinds of both unipolar and bipolar memories are being intensively studied, regardless of polarity of resistive memories.