TEM observation of void formation and migration in phase change memory devices with confined nanoscale GeSbTe.

The reliability of Ge-Sb-Te phase-change memory (PCM) devices has been limited by failure due to void formation and this still remains one of the critical issues affecting their use in storage-class memory applications. To directly observe the void formation processes in real-time, we implemented switching of PCM devices by applying set and reset voltage pulses to a GeSbTe (GST) cell inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The TEM observations directly show that a void nucleates preferentially near the TiN bottom electrode in the GST cell, where the temperature is the highest. The nucleated void grows gradually until it reaches a certain size while migrating slowly toward the positively biased electrode. The fully grown void then continues migrating toward the positively biased electrode in subsequent set pulses. The observed polarity-dependent void migration can be explained by the field-induced redistribution of the constituent elements, especially by the electromigration of under-coordinated Te ions which have vacancies around them. When the reset pulse with the same voltage polarity is applied, the voids exhibit a slight volume shrinkage but are not completely eliminated, resulting in a reset-stuck failure. The present TEM observations revealing the nucleation, growth, and polarity-dependent migration of voids will contribute to the fundamental understanding of the failure by void formation in nanoscale GST-based PCM devices and help improving the design of reliable PCM devices.