Event Details

Condensed Matter seminar

ULTRARAM is a non-volatile memory with the potential to achieve fast, ultralow-energy electron storage in a floating gate accessed through a triple-barrier resonant tunneling heterostructure. In this talk, the device physics of the technology is described, including the InAs/AlSb triple-barrier structure that provides ULTRARAM’s astonishing performance. Then, it’s implementation is reported on a Si substrate; a vital step toward cost-effective mass production[1]. Memory cells fabricated from the Si substrate material show clear 0/1 logic-state contrast after ≤10 ms duration program/erase pulses of ≈2.5 V, a remarkably fast switching speed for 10 and 20 µm sized devices. Furthermore, the combination of low voltage and small device capacitance per unit area results in a switching energy that is orders of magnitude lower than dynamic random access memory and flash, for a given cell size. Extended testing of devices reveals retention in excess of 1000 years and degradation-free endurance of over 107 program/erase cycles, surpassing very recent results for similar devices on GaAs substrates. Lastly, the future of the technology is discussed, including the main hurdles to overcome on the path towards commercialisation.

[1] Hodgson, P. D., Lane, D., Carrington, P. J., Delli, E., Beanland, R., Hayne, M., ULTRARAM: A Low-Energy, High-Endurance, Compound-Semiconductor Memory on Silicon. Adv. Electron. Mater. 2022, 2101103. https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202101103

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