Karsten Beckmann, Wilkie Olin-Ammentorp, Gangotree Chakma, Sherif Amer, Garrett S. Rose, Chris Hobbs, Joseph Van Nostrand, Martin Rodgers and Nathaniel C. Cady

April, 2020

ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems

https://doi.org/10.1145/3381859

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Abstract

Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM), a form of non-volatile memory, has been proposed as a Flash memory replacement. In addition, novel circuit architectures have been proposed that rely on newly discovered or predicted behavior of ReRAM. One such architecture is the memristive Dynamic Adaptive Neural Network Array, developed to emulate the functionality of a biological neuron system. We demonstrated ReRAM devices that show a synaptic tendency by changing their resistance in an analog fashion. The CMOS compatible nanoscale ReRAM devices shown are based on an HfO2 switching layer that sits on a tungsten electrode and is covered by a titanium oxygen scavenger layer and a titanium nitride top electrode. In this work, we showed devices exceeding endurance values of 10B cycles with a discrete Roff/Ron ratio of 15. Multi-level states were achieved by using consecutive ultra-short 5/1.5 ns pulses during the reset operation. A neural network simulation was performed in which the synaptic weights were perturbed with the ReRAM variability, which was extracted from two different characterization methods: (1) via direct write, and (2) via a write/read verification approach during the reset operation. A substantial improvement of the neural network fitness was demonstrated when using the write/read verification approach.

Citation Information

Text

author         K. Beckmann and W. Olin-Ammentorp and G. Chakma and S. Amer and G. S. Rose
               and C. Hobbs and J. Van Nostrand and M. Rodgers and N. C. Cady
title          Towards Synaptic Behavior of Nanoscale ReRAM Devices for 
               Neuromorphic Computing Applications
year           2020
publisher      Association for Computing Machinery
address        New York, NY, USA
volume         16
number         2
issn           1550-4832
url            https://doi.org/10.1145/3381859
doi            10.1145/3381859
journal        ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems
month          April
articleno      23
numpages       18

Bibtex

@ARTICLE{boc:20:tsb,
    author = "K. Beckmann and W. Olin-Ammentorp and G. Chakma and S. Amer and G. S. Rose
               and C. Hobbs and J. {Van Nostrand} and M. Rodgers and N. C. Cady",
    title = "Towards Synaptic Behavior of Nanoscale {ReRAM} Devices for 
               Neuromorphic Computing Applications",
    year = "2020",
    publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",
    address = "New York, NY, USA",
    volume = "16",
    number = "2",
    issn = "1550-4832",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1145/3381859",
    doi = "10.1145/3381859",
    journal = "ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems",
    month = "April",
    articleno = "23",
    numpages = "18"
}