Physical model of dynamic Joule heating effect for reset process in conductive-bridge random access memory

Dynamic Joule heating effect of reset process in conductive-bridge random access memory (CBRAM) was investigated theoretically. By introducing the geometry effect of conductive filament (CF), the temperature and electric field distributions in the transient state in both one-dimen-sional and three-dimensional cases were discussed in detail. We found that the CF’s geometry plays an important role in the transient Joule heating process, and the transient thermal effect turns increasingly significant with increasing applied voltage in reset procedure. The proposed position where CF ruptures is between the location of temperature peak and narrow end of the CF rather than the point of temperature peak in the cone-shaped CF system. It is more interesting that the rupture of CF possibly occurs in transient process, before steady-state is established.