Phase change memory cells including nitrogenated carbon materials, and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9299929-B2
Application number	US-201514727106-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2015
Priority date	Aug 23, 2011
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A phase change memory cell comprising a first chalcogenide compound on a first electrode, a first nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first chalcogenide compound, a second chalcogenide compound directly on the first nitrogenated carbon material, and a second nitrogenated carbon material directly on the second chalcogenide compound and directly on a second electrode. Other phase change memory cells are described. A method of forming a phase change memory cell and a phase change memory device are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A phase change memory cell, comprising:
a first chalcogenide compound on a first electrode;
a first nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first chalcogenide compound;
a first carbon material directly on the first nitrogenated carbon material;
a second nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first carbon material;
a second chalcogenide compound directly on the second nitrogenated carbon material;
a third nitrogenated carbon material directly on the second chalcogenide compound; and
a second carbon material directly on the third nitrogenated carbon material and directly on a second electrode, the second nitrogenated carbon material and the first nitrogenated carbon material each independently comprising greater than or equal to about 80 atomic percent carbon and less than or equal to about 20 atomic percent nitrogen.

2. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , further comprising:
a third carbon material directly on the first electrode; and
a fourth nitrogenated carbon material directly on the third carbon material and directly on the first chalcogenide compound.

3. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , wherein the first chalcogenide compound comprises at least one of Sb 2 Te 3 , GeTe, In 2 Se 3 , SnTe, Bi 2 Te 3 , SbTe, SnSe, GeSe, GaSeTe, Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 , SnSb 2 Te 4 , Au 25 Ge 4 Sn 11 Te 60 , AgInSbTe, Ag 2 Se, InTe, and InSbTe.

4. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , wherein the first chalcogenide compound comprises at least one of As 2 Te 3 , As 2 Se 3 , As 30 Te 45 Ge 25 , As 28 Se 42 Ge 30 , As 30 Si 12 Se 33 Ge 25 , and As 37 Te 39 Ge 9 Si 14 In.

5. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , wherein each of the first nitrogenated carbon material and the second nitrogenated carbon material, independently, comprises from about 90 atomic percent carbon to about 99.9 atomic percent carbon and from about 0.10 atomic percent nitrogen to about 10 atomic percent nitrogen.

6. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of each of the first nitrogenated carbon material, the second nitrogenated carbon material, and the third nitrogenated carbon material is within a range of from about 5 Å to about 100 Å.

7. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first nitrogenated carbon material, the second nitrogenated carbon material, and the third nitrogenated carbon material comprises a non-uniform nitrogen concentration profile.

8. A method of forming a phase change memory cell, comprising:
forming a first chalcogenide compound on a first electrode;
forming a first nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first chalcogenide compound;
forming a first carbon material directly on the first nitrogenated carbon material;
forming a second nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first carbon material;
forming a second chalcogenide compound on the second first nitrogenated carbon material;
forming a third nitrogenated carbon material directly on the second chalcogenide compound; and
forming a second carbon material directly on the third nitrogenated carbon material.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein forming the first nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first chalcogenide compound comprises forming the first nitrogenated carbon material to comprise greater than or equal to about 80 atomic percent carbon and less than or equal to about 20 atomic percent nitrogen.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein forming the second nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first carbon material comprises forming the second nitrogenated carbon material to comprise greater than or equal to about 80 atomic percent carbon and less than or equal to about 20 atomic percent nitrogen.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein forming the third nitrogenated carbon material directly on the second chalcogenide compound comprises forming the third nitrogenated carbon material to comprise greater than or equal to about 80 atomic percent carbon and less than or equal to about 20 atomic percent nitrogen.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein forming the second nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first carbon material comprises forming the second nitrogenated carbon material to exhibit a different thickness than the first nitrogenated carbon material.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein forming the third nitrogenated carbon material directly on the second chalcogenide compound comprises forming the third nitrogenated carbon material to exhibit a different thickness than at least one of the first nitrogenated carbon material or the second nitrogenated carbon material.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein forming the first chalcogenide compound comprises forming the first chalcogenide compound to comprise at least one of Sb 2 Te 3 , GeTe, In 2 Se 3 , SnTe, Bi 2 Te 3 , SbTe, SnSe, GeSe, GaSeTe, Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 , SnSb 2 Te 4 , Au 25 Ge 4 Sn 11 Te 60 , AgInSbTe, Ag 2 Se, InTe, or InSbTe.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein forming the second chalcogenide compound comprises forming the second chalcogenide compound to comprise at least one of As 2 Te 3 , As 2 Se 3 , As 30 Te 45 Ge 25 , As 25 Se 42 Ge 30 , As 30 Si 2 Se 33 Ge 25 , or As 37 Te 39 Ge 9 Si 14 In.

16. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , wherein the third nitrogenated carbon material comprises greater than or equal to about 80 atomic percent carbon and less than or equal to about 20 atomic percent nitrogen.

17. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first nitrogenated carbon material, the second nitrogenated carbon material, or the third nitrogenated carbon material exhibits a different thickness than at least one other of the first nitrogenated carbon material, the second nitrogenated carbon material, or the third nitrogenated carbon material.

18. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first nitrogenated carbon material, the second nitrogenated carbon material, or the third nitrogenated carbon material exhibits a uniform nitrogen concentration profile, and at least one other of the first nitrogenated carbon material, the second nitrogenated carbon material, or the third nitrogenated carbon material exhibits a non-uniform nitrogen concentration profile.

19. The phase change memory cell of claim 1 , wherein each of the first nitrogenated carbon material, the second nitrogenated carbon material, and the third nitrogenated carbon material consist of carbon and nitrogen.

20. A phase change memory cell, comprising:
a first chalcogenide compound on a first electrode;
a first nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first chalcogenide compound;
a first carbon material directly on the first nitrogenated carbon material;
a second nitrogenated carbon material directly on the first carbon material;
a second chalcogenide compound directly on the second nitrogenated carbon material;
a third nitrogenated carbon material directly on the second chalcogenide compound, the third nitrogenated carbon material exhibiting a different thickness than at least one of the first nitrogenated carbon material or the second nitrogenated carbon material; and
a second carbon material directly on the third nitrogenated carbon material and directly on a second electrode.

Assignees

• Micron Technology Inc

Inventors

• Gotti Andrea
• Fumagalli Luca

Classifications

• H01L45/1625

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L45/1293 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/2463

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L45/06

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L45/1253

  Electricity · mapped topic