A High Reliable High-κ Antifuse Programmed by Intrinsic Overshoot Current

Abstract

In this paper, we fabricated a W/Al 2 O 3 /Ti metal-insulator-metal (MIM) antifuse one-time programmable memory. A large current overshoot was observed during the dielectric breakdown, which generated a strong conductive filament and resulted in extremely low on-state resistance. The performance of this Al 2 O 3 -based antifuse has been demonstrated with an ultra large ON/OFF window on the order of 10 12 . Both breakdown voltage and on-state resistance exhibit excellent uniformity, the off-state lifetime is projected to be 1591 years at 2 V, and the on-state exhibits a reliable filament that is difficult to rupture.

Effects of Electrode on the Performance of Al2O3Based Metal-Insulator-Metal Antifuse

“…We have reported the programming characteristics of Al 2 O 3 based antifuse with Ti electrode. 6 There exists an overshoot current in this structure during programming and we take advantage of this large current acting as programming current and obtained extreme low resistance. The overshoot current can be indicated in the reset current-voltage curves of on-state antifuse.…”

“…Metal-Insulator-Metal antifuse has been extensively used in field programmable gate arrays (FPGA's) as interconnect elements and programmable read-only memory (PROM) as one-time programmable memory. [1][2][3][4] We have fabricated a new antifuse based on high-κ material Al 2 O 3 deposited by atomic layer deposition, 5 explored the unique programming characteristics, 6 and investigated the properties of conductive filament within Al 2 O 3 dielectric after antifuse was broken down. 7 The bottom and top metal that close to the antifuse layer is extremely important to influence the characteristics of the device.…”

“…8 The difference is that when the low resistance state of the antifuse is achieved, it is not expected to return to a high resistance and is desired to permanently remain on-state. We have reported ALD Al 2 O 3 based antifuse with Ti material as top electrode, 6 and it is programmed by intrinsic overshoot current which is about 20 mA, and a strong filament and ultra large ON/OFF window of 10 12 were obtained. We also reported even if the low resistance was accidently reset to a high resistance (the value is close to the on-state resistance), the on-state and off-state can be easily distinguished.…”