A Circuit-Level SPICE Modeling Strategy for the Simulation of Behavioral Variability in ReRAM

Abstract

The intrinsic behavioral variability in resistive switching devices (also known as "memristors" or "ReRAM devices") can be a reliability limiting factor or an opportunity for applications where randomness of resistance switching is essential, such as hardware security and stochastic computing. The realistic assessment of ReRAM-based circuits & systems towards practical exploitation requires variability-aware ReRAM modeling. In this context, here we present a versatile, circuit-level implementation strategy to incorporate cycle-tocycle (C2C) variability to the ReRAM model parameters in SPICE simulations. We evaluated the proposed approach with threshold-based models of a voltage-controlled bipolar ReRAM device and managed to reproduce the main features observed in experimental curves for different pulsed voltage inputs. With key upgrades, compared to previous approaches found in the literature, our strategy enables the enhancement of any ReRAM device model towards the exploration of new ways to make the most of the C2C ReRAM variability, and to test the robustness of any designed circuits & systems against ReRAM variability.

On the Development of Prognostics and System Health Management (PHM) Techniques for ReRAM Applications

“…To this end, we adopted a variability injection scheme for the RS device model parameters [18], [19] such as the switching thresholds (VSET & VRESET) or the switching rate, so that transition errors can be simulated. Using the behavioral RS device model of [20], under the same applied input voltage, owing to variability, the final resistance of the device can differ during WRITE operations in simulation.…”