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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 235 records · Page 13

Probing electron density across Ar{sup +} irradiation-induced self-organized TiO{sub 2−x} nanochannels for memory application

The variation of electron density in TiO{sub 2−x} nanochannels, exhibiting resistive switching phenomenon, produced by Ar{sup +} ion-irradiation at the threshold fluence of 5 × 10{sup 16} ions/cm{sup 2} is demonstrated by X-ray reflectivity (XRR). The transmission electron microscopy reveals the formation of nanochannels, while the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirms Ti enrichment near the surface due to ion-irradiation, in consistent with the increase in electron density by XRR measurements. Such a variation in Ti concentration indicates the evolution of oxygen vacancies (OVs) along the TiO{sub 2−x} nanochannels, and thus paves the way to explain the operation and performance of the Pt/TiO{sub 2−x}/Pt-based memory devices via OV migration.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Nanosecond switching in GeSe phase change memory films by atomic force microscopy

Nanosecond scale threshold switching is investigated with conducting atomic force microscopy (AFM) for an amorphous GeSe film. Switched bits exhibit 2–3 orders of magnitude variations in conductivity, as demonstrated in phase change based memory devices. Through the nm-scale AFM probe, this crystallization was achieved with pulse durations of as low as 15 ns, the fastest reported with scanning probe based methods. Conductance AFM imaging of the switched bits further reveals correlations between the switched volume, pulse amplitude, and pulse duration. The influence of film heterogeneities on switching is also directly detected, which is of tremendous importance for optimal device performance.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

IRIS: A Performance-Portable Framework for Cross-Platform Heterogeneous Computing

From edge to exascale, computer architectures are becoming more heterogeneous and complex. The systems typically have fat nodes, with multicore CPUs and multiple hardware accelerators such as GPUs, FPGAs, and DSPs. This complexity is causing a crisis in programming systems and performance portability. Several programming systems are working to address these challenges, but the increasing architectural diversity is forcing software stacks and applications to be specialized for each architecture. As we show, all of these approaches critically depend on their software framework for discovery, execution, scheduling, and data orchestration. To address this challenge, we believe that a more agile and proactive software framework is essential to increase performance portability and improve user productivity. To this end, we have designed and implemented IRIS: a performance-portable framework for cross-platform heterogeneous computing. IRIS can discover available resources, manage multiple diverse programming platforms (e.g., CUDA, Hexagon, HIP, Level Zero, OpenCL, OpenMP) simultaneously in the same execution, respect data dependencies, orchestrate data movement proactively, and provide for user-configurable scheduling. To simplify data movement, IRIS introduces a shared virtual device memory with relaxed consistency among different heterogeneous devices. IRIS also adds an automatic kernel workload partitioning technique using the polyhedral model so that it can resize kernels for a wide range of devices. Our evaluation on three architectures, ranging from Qualcomm Snapdragon to a Summit supercomputer node, shows that IRIS improves portability across a wide range of diverse heterogeneous architectures with negligible overhead.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Radiation-Hardened Solid-State Drive

A method is provided for a radiationhardened (rad-hard) solid-state drive for space mission memory applications by combining rad-hard and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) non-volatile memories (NVMs) into a hybrid architecture. The architecture is controlled by a rad-hard ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) or a FPGA (field programmable gate array). Specific error handling and data management protocols are developed for use in a rad-hard environment. The rad-hard memories are smaller in overall memory density, but are used to control and manage radiation-induced errors in the main, and much larger density, non-rad-hard COTS memory devices. Small amounts of rad-hard memory are used as error buffers and temporary caches for radiation-induced errors in the large COTS memories. The rad-hard ASIC/FPGA implements a variety of error-handling protocols to manage these radiation-induced errors. The large COTS memory is triplicated for protection, and CRC-based counters are calculated for sub-areas in each COTS NVM array. These counters are stored in the rad-hard non-volatile memory. Through monitoring, rewriting, regeneration, triplication, and long-term storage, radiation-induced errors in the large NV memory are managed. The rad-hard ASIC/FPGA also interfaces with the external computer buses.

Sheldon, Douglas J.↗

Reliability Characterization of TaOx-Based Commercial ReRAM in Combination with Radiation

We present reliability data combined with total dose gamma radiation for one of the first commercially available resistive memory devices. These Tantalum Oxide (TaOX)-based resistive memory chips demonstrate operation in dynamic program and erase testing up to ~130 Krad(Si) of 60Co gamma dose. In static and unbiased conditions, the stored data in the memory cells were able to withstand up to 50Mrad(Si) of exposure. The access circuitry, though, seemed less robust to gamma radiation and was able to operate only up to a total dose of 3Mrad(Si). Post exposure reliability as indicated by endurance, cycling error rate, and data retention tests showed no detectable impact from the combination with prior gamma irradiation. Overall, the total dose radiation tolerance of the commercial TaOx-based resistive memory chip appears to be higher than flash memory chips and in agreement with prior tests conducted with single cell resistive memories.

total ionizing dose↗

Data migration schedule prediction using machine learning

Various embodiments provide for one or more processor instructions and memory instructions that enable a memory sub-system to predict a schedule for migrating data between memory devices, which can be part of a memory sub-system.

Roberts, David Andrew↗

Investigation of dominant spin wave modes by domain walls collision

Spin wave emission due to field-driven domain wall (DW) collision has been investigated numerically and analytically in permalloy nanowires. The spin wave modes generated are diagonally symmetric with respect to the collision point. The non-propagating mode has the highest amplitude along the middle of the width. The frequency of this mode is strongly correlated to the nanowire geometrical dimensions and is independent of the strength of applied field within the range of 0.1 mT to 1 mT. For nanowire with film thickness below 5 nm, a second spin wave harmonic mode is observed. The decay coefficient of the spin wave power suggests that the DWs in a memory device should be at least 300 nm apart for them to be free of interference from the spin waves.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Room-temperature polarization switching and antiferromagnetic coupling in epitaxial (Ga,Fe){sub 2}O{sub 3}/SrRuO{sub 3} heterostructures

Room-temperature reversible remnant polarization of gallium ferrite thin-films is reported as a multiferroic material with non-zero order parameters of polarization and magnetization. With the addition of Fe ions in Ga sites, Ga{sub 0.6}Fe{sub 1.4}O{sub 3} (GFO) thin films have been considered as potentially promising of multiferroicity. The b-axis oriented epitaxial GFO films were grown on SrRuO{sub 3}(111)/SrTiO{sub 3}(111). The six-fold symmetric in-plane epitaxy of the GFO films was confirmed using X-ray diffraction. The magnetic moment of the films was measured as a function of temperature and external magnetic field, which shows a room-temperature non-zero magnetization. Macroscopic and microscopic methods have been applied to demonstrate the polarization switching of the films. The remnant polarization is measured as 0.05 μC/cm{sup 2}. Reduction of leaky behaviors of the GFO films owing to the conducting oxide of SrRuO{sub 3} will pave a way to take advantage of the room-temperature non-zero multi-orders for future non-volatile memory device applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Influence of surface adsorption on MoS 2 memtransistor switching kinetics

Sulfur-deficient polycrystalline two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) memtransistors exhibit gate-tunable memristive switching to implement emerging memory operations and neuromorphic computing paradigms. Grain boundaries and sulfur vacancies are critical for memristive switching; however, the underlying physical mechanisms are not fully understood. Furthermore, the adsorption of water and gaseous species strongly perturbs electronic transport in monolayer MoS 2 , and little work has been done to explore the influence of surface interactions on defect-related kinetics that produces memristive switching. Here, we study the switching kinetics of back-gated MoS 2 memtransistors using current transient measurements in a controlled atmosphere chamber. Here, we observe that adsorbed water molecules lead to suppression of the electronic trap-filling processes concomitant with the resistive switching process, resulting in altered kinetics of the resistive switching. Additionally, using the transient response from “bunched” drain voltage pulse trains performed as a function of temperature, we extract the energy of the affected trap state and find that it places the trap roughly midgap [E T = E C – 0.7 (±0.4) eV]. Our results highlight the importance of controlling for surface interactions that may affect switching kinetics in 2D memtransistors, synaptic transistors, and related memory devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Generation of narrow-band single-photon states via spontaneous parametric down-conversion for quantum memories in doped crystals

We present experimental results on the generation of narrow-band single-photon states via cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a PPLN crystal and demonstrate the feasibility of conditional preparation of single 867-nm photons with a 70-MHz linewidth, compatible with optical quantum memory devices based on Nd{sup 3+}-doped isototopically pure Y{sup 7}LiF{sub 4} crystals. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of amorphous [CoSiB/Pt]{sub N} thin films

Materials with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) have been intensively studied for high-density nonvolatile memory such as spin-transfer-torque magnetic random access memory with low switching current density and high thermal stability. Compared with crystalline PMA multilayers, considerable works have been done on amorphous PMA multilayers because the amorphous materials are expected to have lower pinning site density as well as smaller domain wall width. This study is an overview of the PMA properties of amorphous [CoSiB/Pt]{sub N} multilayers with varying N, where the energy contribution is changed from domain wall energy to magnetostatic energy around N = 6. By measuring the field-induced domain wall motion, we obtain the creep exponent of μ = 1/4. These results in the amorphous PMA multilayers of [CoSiB/Pt]{sub N} demonstrate possible potential as a free layer for PMA-based memory devices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Femtosecond laser-induced crystallization of amorphous N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films and in situ characterization by coherent phonon spectroscopy

Femtosecond laser-irradiation-induced phase change of amorphous N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films is in situ studied by coherent phonon spectroscopy. We have observed that a new coherent optical phonon (COP) mode occurs as laser irradiation fluence reaches certain thresholds, indicating laser-induced phase changes. Additionally, this new phonon mode has also been verified in heat-annealing-crystallized N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films, confirming the emergence of laser-irradiation-induced crystallization. By measuring the pump fluence dependence of COP dynamics in laser-crystallized N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films, we found that the frequency and lifetime of COP decrease with the increasing of pump fluence, which suggests good crystallinity in laser-crystallized N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films. It has also been observed that the crystallization temperature of amorphous N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films increases with N-doping content. Our results indicate promising applications of N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films in optical phase-change memory devices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Charge storage and tunneling mechanism of Ni nanocrystals embedded HfO{sub x} film

A nano-floating gate memory structure based on Ni nanocrystals (NCs) embedded HfO{sub x} film is deposited by means of radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. Microstructure investigations reveal that self-organized Ni-NCs with diameters of 4-8 nm are well dispersed in amorphous HfO{sub x} matrix. Pt/Ni-NCs embedded HfO{sub x}/Si/Ag capacitor structures exhibit voltage-dependent capacitance-voltage hysteresis, and a maximum flat-band voltage shift of 1.5 V, corresponding to a charge storage density of 6.0 × 10{sup 12} electrons/cm{sup 2}, is achieved. These capacitor memory cells exhibit good endurance characteristic up to 4 × 10{sup 4} cycles and excellent retention performance of 10{sup 5} s, fulfilling the requirements of next generation non-volatile memory devices. Schottky tunneling is proven to be responsible for electrons tunneling in these capacitors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Electrical-transport, magnetoresistance and magnetic properties of La{sub 0.7}Ca{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3} and La{sub 0.7}Ca{sub 0.24}Sr{sub 0.06}MnO{sub 3} single crystals

We report the electrical-transport, magnetoresistance and magnetic properties of the hole doped La{sub 0.7}Ca{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3} (LCMO) and La{sub 0.7}Ca{sub 0.24}Sr{sub 0.06}MnO{sub 3} (LCSMO) single crystals. It was prepared using floating zone technique. The resistivity data shows the metal to insulator transition (T{sub MI}) occurs at 211 K along c-axis and T{sub MI} = 185 K the ab-plane for LCMO and T{sub MI} = 290 K along the c-axis and T{sub MI} = 280 K along the ab-plane for LCSMO single crystals. It is observed that the T{sub MI} is higher along the c-axis as compared to that in the ab-plane, consequently signifying more favorable hoping of electrons is along the c-axis. The ac-susceptibility measurement shows that this material exhibits ferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition temperature (TC) at 206 K for LCMO and T{sub C} = 277 K for LCSMO single crystals. For magnetic memory device application point of view, the sample shows the maximum MR of 98% for LCMO and 80% for LCSMO single crystals at 8T applied magnetic field. Doping small amount of Sr (0.06%) reveals that the electronic and magnetic phase transition in CMR single crystal increases substantially and useful for device application. This is first time such type of comparative study in these manganite single crystals.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Magnetization reversal assisted by half antivortex states in nanostructured circular cobalt disks

The half antivortex, a fundamental topological structure which determines magnetization reversal of submicron magnetic devices with domain walls, has been suggested also to play a crucial role in spin torque induced vortex core reversal in circular disks. Here, we report on magnetization reversal in circular disks with nanoholes through consecutive metastable states with half antivortices. In-plane anisotropic magnetoresistance and broadband susceptibility measurements accompanied by micromagnetic simulations reveal that cobalt (Co) disks with two and three linearly arranged nanoholes directed at 45° and 135° with respect to the external magnetic field show reproducible step-like changes in the anisotropic magnetoresistance and magnetic permeability due to transitions between different intermediate states mediated by vortices and half antivortices confined to the dot nanoholes and edges, respectively. Our findings are relevant for the development of multi-hole based spintronic and magnetic memory devices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Impact of Random Spatial Fluctuation in Non-Uniform Crystalline Phases on the Device Variation of Ferroelectric FET

In this work, a comprehensive study of random spatial fluctuation of the ferroelectric (FE) phase and dielectric (DE) phase in FeFETs is conducted to understand its impact on device variation. It is found that: i) there exists a certain DE percentage threshold that below which the increase of the DE phase does not significantly impact the device memory window and variation and only above which evident device degradation can be observed; ii) increasing the DE phase increases the variation in the memory window and the coercive field distribution further exacerbates the variation, hence degrading the sensing margin; iii) decreasing the number of grains degrades the device variation, which calls for further grain size engineering for variation suppression.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Nonvolatile data storage using mechanical force-induced polarization switching in ferroelectric polymer

Ferroelectric polymers offer the promise of low-cost and flexible electronic products. They are attractive for information storage due to their spontaneous polarization which is usually switched by electric field. Here, we demonstrate that electrical signals can be readily written on ultra-thin ferroelectric polymer films by strain gradient-induced polarization switching (flexoelectric effect). A force with magnitude as small as 64nN is enough to induce highly localized (40 nm feature size) change in the polarization states. The methodology is capable of realizing nonvolatile memory devices with miniaturized cell size and storage density of tens to hundreds Gbit per square inch.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Thermal conductivity measurement of amorphous dielectric multilayers for phase-change memory power reduction

In this work, we investigate the temperature-dependent thermal conductivities of few nanometer thick alternating stacks of amorphous dielectrics, specifically SiO{sub 2}/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} and SiO{sub 2}/Si{sub 3}N{sub 4}. Experiments using steady-state Joule-heating and electrical thermometry, while using a micro-miniature refrigerator over a wide temperature range (100–500 K), show that amorphous thin-film multilayer SiO{sub 2}/Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} and SiO{sub 2}/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} exhibit through-plane room temperature effective thermal conductivities of about 1.14 and 0.48 W/(m × K), respectively. In the case of SiO{sub 2}/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, the reduced conductivity is attributed to lowered film density (7.03 → 5.44 × 10{sup 28 }m{sup –3} for SiO{sub 2} and 10.2 → 8.27 × 10{sup 28 }m{sup –3} for Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) caused by atomic layer deposition of thin-films as well as a small, finite, and repeating thermal boundary resistance (TBR) of 1.5 m{sup 2} K/GW between dielectric layers. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that vibrational mismatch between amorphous oxide layers is small, and that the TBR between layers is largely due to imperfect interfaces. Finally, the impact of using this multilayer dielectric in a dash-type phase-change memory device is studied using finite-element simulations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗