Programmable metallization cells in memory and switching applications

This paper describes programmable metallization cell (PMC) technology, which utilizes a high resistance ion conducting materials between oxidizable and inert electrodes. These cells exhibit resistance switching which is based on the combination of bias dependent ion transport through the solid-state ion conductor and reduction/oxidation (redox) reactions occurring at the electrodes. PMC structures promise a wide range of applications and PMC-based resistive random access memory (ReRAM) has already entered the nonvolatile memory marketplace. The paper briefly reviews PMC device operation and discusses research findings on memory cells that utilize Ag-Ge-S ion conducting films for commercial memory and radiation-hard applications.