The role of contact resistance in GeTe and Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ nanowire phase change memory reset switching current

Nanowire (NW) structures offer a model system for investigating material and scaling properties of phase change random access memory (PCRAM) at the nanometer scale. Here, we investigate the relationship between nanowire device contact resistance and reset current (I_reset) for varying diameters of NWs. Because the reset switching current directly affects possible device density of PCRAM NWs, it is considered one of the most important parameters for PCRAM. We found that the reset switching current, I_reset, was inversely proportional to the contact resistance of PCRAM NW devices decreasing as NW diameter was reduced from 250 nm to 20 nm. Our observations suggest that the reduction of power consumption of PCRAM in the sub-lithographic regime can be achieved by lowering the contact resistance.