Nanoscale memristive devices: Threats and solutions

2026-06-17

AI Summary

This work addresses the reliability challenges—such as read/write errors and soft errors—that hinder the deployment of nanoscale memristive devices, including ReRAM and STT-RAM, in high-density, low-power memory and in-memory computing applications. The study systematically investigates the underlying reliability mechanisms of these two device types and, for the first time, uncovers the coupling effects among multiple reliability parameters, elucidating both their detrimental and beneficial impacts. Building on these insights, the authors propose an application-oriented, holistic fault-tolerance strategy that integrates circuit-level and architecture-level techniques within a crossbar array framework. This approach not only enhances device reliability but also extends the capability of memristor-based systems to perform logic and arithmetic operations in compute-in-memory architectures, thereby offering a robust theoretical foundation and practical pathway for reliable deployment of memristors in emerging computing paradigms.

Abstract

Due to their incentivizing features, memristors are a promising candidate for replacing CMOS-based memories, which are faced with various functional challenges in deep submicron process technologies. Memristors are nonvolatile, have low leakage, and are dense in comparison to CMOS-based memories like SRAM. In this regard, resistive RAM (ReRAM) and spin-transfer-torque RAM (STT-RAM) memristors are distinguished among other memristor-based memory technologies, due to their superiority in process maturity and metrics such as memory operation energy, memory latency, and area. Hence, this chapter focuses on these two memristor-based memory technologies. Despite the good features of these types of memory, they suffer from some reliability threats. Reliability parameters affect each other, and examining their positive and negative effects has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the proposed solutions. In one view, the threats can be categorized into two classes: (1) read/write error and (2) soft error. In this chapter, we comprehensively describe these threats and present the state-of-the-art solutions that enable the widespread use of memristors, particularly ReRAM and STT-RAM, in different applications. Finally, we introduce the emerging ability of memristors as a computing unit aiming to minimize data restoration in computing, and we show how to perform logic and arithmetic computation in a crossbar array.

Problem

• memristor
• reliability
• read/write error
• soft error
• ReRAM

Innovation

• memristor
• ReRAM
• STT-RAM
• in-memory computing
• reliability threats