Methods and devices are provided for fabricating a resistive random-access array having dedicated electroforming contacts. A lower conductive line is formed on an interlayer dielectric layer. A lower electrode is formed on the lower conductive line. An isolation layer is formed having an upper surface which is coplanar with an upper surface of the lower electrode. A stack structure including a metal-oxide layer and upper electrode is formed on the lower electrode. Insulating spacers are formed on sidewalls of the stack structure. The lower electrode, and stack structure form a resistive memory cell, wherein a footprint of the lower electrode is greater than that of the upper electrode. An upper conductive line contacts the upper electrode, and is arranged orthogonal to the lower conductive line. A dedicated electroforming contact contacts an extended portion of the lower electrode which extends past a cross-point of the upper and lower conductive lines.

A non-volatile memory (NVM) structure includes an array of memory cells. Within the array, data is stored in single cells or twin cells. The structure also includes switch circuits and sense amplifiers. Each switch circuit is connected between bitlines for a group of columns and a corresponding sense amplifier and establishes electrical connections to enable either single cell sensing or twin cell sensing. In single cell sensing, a data signal on a bitline connected to a memory cell is compared to a reference signal. In twin cell sensing, true and complement data signals on two bitlines connected to two memory cells are compared to each other. Since twin cell sensing compares true and complement data signals and does not require a reference signal, twin cell sensing is relatively accurate without the need for trim bits. Thus, the structure can store trim cells, accurately sense them, and subsequently use them.

A method of forming an array of cross point memory cells comprises using two, and only two, masking steps to collectively pattern within the array spaced lower first lines, spaced upper second lines which cross the first lines, and individual programmable devices between the first lines and the second lines where such cross that have an upwardly open generally U-shape vertical cross-section of programmable material laterally between immediately adjacent of the first lines beneath individual of the upper second lines. Arrays of cross point memory cells independent of method of manufacture are disclosed.

Methods and devices are provided for fabricating a resistive random-access array having dedicated electroforming contacts. A lower conductive line is formed on an interlayer dielectric layer. A lower electrode is formed on the lower conductive line. An isolation layer is formed having an upper surface which is coplanar with an upper surface of the lower electrode. A stack structure including a metal-oxide layer and upper electrode is formed on the lower electrode. Insulating spacers are formed on sidewalls of the stack structure. The lower electrode, and stack structure form a resistive memory cell, wherein a footprint of the lower electrode is greater than that of the upper electrode. An upper conductive line contacts the upper electrode, and is arranged orthogonal to the lower conductive line. A dedicated electroforming contact contacts an extended portion of the lower electrode which extends past a cross-point of the upper and lower conductive lines.

For decades, advances in electronics were directly related to the scaling of CMOS transistors according to Moore's law. However, both the CMOS scaling and the classical computer architecture are approaching fundamental and practical limits. A novel memory-centric, reconfigurable, general purpose computing platform is proposed to handle the explosive amount of data in a fast and energy-efficient manner. The proposed computing architecture is based on a single physical resistive memory-centric fabric that can be optimally reconfigured and utilized to perform different computing and data storage tasks in a massively parallel approach. The system can be tailored to achieve maximal energy efficiency based on the data flow by dynamically allocating the basic computing fabric to storage, arithmetic, and analog computing including neuromorphic computing tasks.

Methods are provided for mitigating problems caused by sneak-paths current during memory cell access in gateless arrays. Example methods contemplated herein utilize adaptive-threshold readout techniques that utilize the locality and hierarchy properties of the computer memory system to address this sneak-paths problem. The method of the invention is a method for reading a target memory cell located at an intersection of a target row of a gateless array and a target column of the gateless array, the method comprising: reading a value of the target memory cell; andcalculating an actual value of the target memory cell based on the read value of the memory cell and a component of the read value caused by sneak path current. Utilizing either an initial bits strategy or a dummy bits strategy in order to calculate the component of the read value caused by sneak path current, example embodiments significantly reduce the number of memory accesses pixel for an array readout. In addition, these strategies consume an order of magnitude less power in comparison to alternative state-of-the-art readout techniques.

A method of forming an array of cross point memory cells comprises using two, and only two, masking steps to collectively pattern within the array spaced lower first lines, spaced upper second lines which cross the first lines, and individual programmable devices between the first lines and the second lines where such cross that have an upwardly open generally U-shape vertical cross-section of programmable material laterally between immediately adjacent of the first lines beneath individual of the upper second lines. Arrays of cross point memory cells independent of method of manufacture are disclosed.

To suppress the fluctuation of the voltage drop in the non-volatile memories including the variable resistive element installed therein. An initialization control unit causes a resistance value of a variable resistive element in an access restriction region to be changed to an initial value larger than a predetermined value in a read only mode among the read only mode in which writing to the access restriction region in a memory cell array in which the variable resistive elements are arranged is prohibited and a writable mode in which the writing to the access restriction region is permitted, and transitions to the writable mode. In addition, a write control unit causes a resistance value of an element corresponding to write data among the variable resistive elements in the access restriction region to be changed to a value smaller than the initial value in the writable mode, and transitions to the read only mode.

Integrated circuits with programmable resistive switch elements are provided. A programmable resistive switch element may include two non-volatile resistive elements connected in series and a programming transistor. The programmable resistive switch elements may be configured in a crossbar array and may be interposed within the user data path. Driver circuits may also be included for selectively turning on or turning off the switches by applying positive and optionally negative voltages.

One embodiment provides an apparatus. The apparatus includes a pair of nonvolatile resistive random access memory (RRAM) memory cells coupled to a volatile static RAM (SRAM) memory cell. The pair of nonvolatile RRAM memory cells includes a first RRAM memory cell and a second RRAM memory cell. The first RRAM memory cell includes a first resistive memory element coupled to a first bit line, and a first selector transistor coupled between the first resistive memory element and a first output node of the volatile SRAM memory cell. The second RRAM memory cell includes a second resistive memory element coupled to a second bit line, and a second selector transistor coupled between the second resistive memory element and a second output node of the volatile SRAM memory cell.