Vertical poly-Si select pn-diodes for emerging resistive non-volatile memories

Vertical polycrystalline silicon pn-diodes have been investigated as the select device for resistive non-volatile memories. The diodes have been fabricated up to the metal-1 level using basic processing steps of a CMOS front-end-of-line for 65 nm node and beyond. The study of the electric properties reveals that polycrystalline silicon diodes have a high current density in excess of 105 A/cm2 and exhibit good rectification ratio, even at temperatures as high as 125 °C. Besides single devices, cross-point arrays with polycrystalline Silicon diodes have also been investigated.