This book describes the physics of phase change memory devices, starting from basic operation to reliability issues. The book gives a comprehensive overlook of PCM with particular attention to the electrical transport and the phase transition physics between the two states. The book also contains design engineering details on PCM cell architecture, PCM cell arrays (including electrical circuit management), as well as the full spectrum of possible future applications.

This book describes the physics of phase change memory devices, starting from basic operation to reliability issues. The book gives a comprehensive overlook of PCM with particular attention to the electrical transport and the phase transition physics between the two states. The book also contains design engineering details on PCM cell architecture, PCM cell arrays (including electrical circuit management), as well as the full spectrum of possible future applications.

"Phase Change Materials: Science and Applications" provides a unique introduction of this rapidly developing field. Clearly written and well-structured, this volume describes the material science of these fascinating materials from a theoretical and experimental perspective. Readers will find an in-depth description of their existing and potential applications in optical and solid state storage devices as well as reconfigurable logic applications. Researchers, graduate students and scientists with an interest in this field will find "Phase Change Materials" to be a valuable reference.

As conventional memory technologies such as DRAM and Flash run into scaling challenges, architects and system designers are forced to look at alternative technologies for building future computer systems. This synthesis lecture begins by listing the requirements for a next generation memory technology and briefly surveys the landscape of novel non-volatile memories. Among these, Phase Change Memory (PCM) is emerging as a leading contender, and the authors discuss the material, device, and circuit advances underlying this exciting technology. The lecture then describes architectural solutions to enable PCM for main memories. Finally, the authors explore the impact of such byte-addressable non-volatile memories on future storage and system designs. Table of Contents: Next Generation Memory Technologies / Architecting PCM for Main Memories / Tolerating Slow Writes in PCM / Wear Leveling for Durability / Wear Leveling Under Adversarial Settings / Error Resilience in Phase Change Memories / Storage and System Design With Emerging Non-Volatile Memories

The manufacture of flash memory, which is the dominant nonvolatile memory technology, is facing severe technical barriers. So much so, that some emerging technologies have been proposed as alternatives to flash memory in the nano-regime. Nonvolatile Memory Design: Magnetic, Resistive, and Phase Changing introduces three promising candidates: phase-change memory, magnetic random access memory, and resistive random access memory. The text illustrates the fundamental storage mechanism of these technologies and examines their differences from flash memory techniques. Based on the latest advances, the authors discuss key design methodologies as well as the various functions and capabilities of the three nonvolatile memory technologies.

New solutions are needed for future scaling down of nonvolatile memory. Advances in Non-volatile Memory and Storage Technology provides an overview of developing technologies and explores their strengths and weaknesses. After an overview of the current market, part one introduces improvements in flash technologies, including developments in 3D NAND flash technologies and flash memory for ultra-high density storage devices. Part two looks at the advantages of designing phase change memory and resistive random access memory technologies. It looks in particular at the fabrication, properties, and performance of nanowire phase change memory technologies. Later chapters also consider modeling of both metal oxide and resistive random access memory switching mechanisms, as well as conductive bridge random access memory technologies. Finally, part three looks to the future of alternative technologies. The areas covered include molecular, polymer, and hybrid organic memory devices, and a variety of random access memory devices such as nano-electromechanical, ferroelectric, and spin-transfer-torque magnetoresistive devices. Advances in Non-volatile Memory and Storage Technology is a key resource for postgraduate students and academic researchers in physics, materials science, and electrical engineering. It is a valuable tool for research and development managers concerned with electronics, semiconductors, nanotechnology, solid-state memories, magnetic materials, organic materials, and portable electronic devices. Provides an overview of developing nonvolatile memory and storage technologies and explores their strengths and weaknesses Examines improvements to flash technology, charge trapping, and resistive random access memory Discusses emerging devices such as those based on polymer and molecular electronics, and nanoelectromechanical random access memory (RAM)

Advances in Computers, Volume 118, the latest volume in this innovative series published since 1960, presents detailed coverage of new advancements in computer hardware, software, theory, design and applications. Chapters in this updated release include Introduction to non-volatile memory technologies, The emerging phase-change memory, Phase-change memory architectures, Inter-line level schemes for handling hard errors in PCMs, Handling hard errors in PCMs by using intra-line level schemes, and Addressing issues with MLC Phase-change Memory. Gives a comprehensive overlook of new memory technologies, including PCM Provides reliability features with an in-depth discussion of physical mechanisms that are currently limiting PCM capabilities Covers the work of well-known authors and researchers in the field Includes volumes that are devoted to single themes or subfields of computer science