A memristor random circuit breaker model accounting for stimulus thermal accumulation

Abstract

Random circuit breaker (RCB) model is a powerful tool to investigate the formation and rupture processes of conductive filaments which occur in unipolar memristor devices. However, the existing RCB models do not integrate the time and thermal parameters, which downgrades significantly the model accuracy in emulating the dynamics of conductive filaments under pulse stimulus. Meanwhile, current research lacks detailed discussions about the above-mentioned problems. In this paper, a SPICEbased optimized RCB model is proposed to explore the unipolar resistive switching characteristics of memristor devices under pulse stimulus. Compared with the original RCB model, the set and reset transitions of each breaker in the proposed model are assumed to be dominated by the thermal heat, which introduces time variable by cascading the thermal equivalent circuits on the original main breaker network and thus allows to explore the filament formation and rupture dynamics along with time. It can simulate all unipolar memristor device operations realized by the original RCB model and is accurate enough to interpret effectively the novel features arising from pulse stimulus such as nonlinear current-voltage relation, multi-states storage capacity, etc.

Stochastic circuit breaker network model for bipolar resistance switching memories

“…[24,27] Models based on random circuit breaker (RCB) networks have been initially implemented with some success for describing the operation of unipolar RRAMs. [28][29][30][31][32] Such models have been used to describe the filamentary nature of unipolar switching and the stochastic aspect was only relegated to the initialization of the breaker network. Few attempts have been made for describing bipolar RRAMs with RCB networks: the insertion of an interface layer is described in ref.…”

Understanding the Influence of Metal Oxide Layer Thickness and Defects on Resistive Switching Behavior Through Numerical Modeling

“…Admitting that the switching phenomenon is attributed to conducting filaments, several filamentary models have been proposed to explore the underlying formation/ rupture dynamics. [8][9][10][11][12][13] Among them, the random circuit breaker model (RCB) provides a reliable description of both unipolar and bipolar reversible resistive switching, [14][15][16] allowing one to understand what is happening inside an actual device. The RCB is a percolation model that assumes the insulator layer to be composed of a lattice network of circuit breakers (resistors), as shown in Figure 1a.…”