{"project":{"acronym":"","projectId":91752,"title":"Resistive Memory Devices for Radiation Resistant Non-Volatile Memory","primaryTaxonomyNodes":[{"taxonomyNodeId":10571,"taxonomyRootId":8816,"parentNodeId":10567,"level":3,"code":"TX02.1.4","title":"High Performance Memories","definition":"High Performance rad-hard Memories utilize more advanced memory technologies (volatile and non-volatile) to provide increased memory bandwidth and improved power utilization at orders of magnitude increase in density.","exampleTechnologies":"Rad-hard high-density on-board memory, rad-hard/tolerant high-capacity memory, Double Data Rate (DDR3/4), Magnetoresistive Random-Access Memory (MRAM)","hasChildren":false,"hasInteriorContent":true}],"startTrl":2,"currentTrl":3,"endTrl":3,"benefits":"Current rad hard strategies use redundant wiring or failsafe programming to minimize radiation damage. These strategies have drawbacks. Redundant wiring increases the amount of circuitry required, while failsafe programming typically requires extra memory, and can slow data processing. Rather than employ secondary rad hard strategies, we seek to build electronic components that are inherently rad hard. ","description":"Ionizing radiation in space can damage electronic equipment, corrupting data and even disabling computers. Radiation resistant (rad hard) strategies must be employed to prolong the usefulness of electronics in space. Current rad hard strategies use redundant wiring or failsafe programming to minimize radiation damage. These strategies have drawbacks. Redundant wiring increases the amount of circuitry required, while failsafe programming typically requires extra memory, and can slow data processing. Rather than employ secondary rad hard strategies, we seek to build electronic components that are inherently rad hard. Resistive memory is a promising new form of memory that appears to be resistant to radiation. Hafnium oxide-based ReRAM has been show to have some degree of resistance to radiation damage. Tantalum oxide-based ReRAM has not been investigated, but has several properties making it superior to hafnium oxide for memory applications. Therefore, a comprehensive study of the radiation resistance of tantalum oxide will be performed. Further investigations with hafnium oxide will also be performed for comparison. Devices will be irradiated primarily with protons, alpha particles, gamma rays, and X-rays. Particles will range from a few hundred keV to 1 MeV.","startYear":2014,"startMonth":8,"endYear":2018,"endMonth":9,"statusDescription":"Completed","principalInvestigators":[{"contactId":352138,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Nathaniel","lastName":"Cady","fullName":"Nathaniel Cady","fullNameInverted":"Cady, Nathaniel","publicEmail":false,"nacontact":false}],"programDirectors":[{"contactId":84634,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Claudia","lastName":"Meyer","fullName":"Claudia M Meyer","fullNameInverted":"Meyer, Claudia M","middleInitial":"M","primaryEmail":"claudia.m.meyer@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"programExecutives":[{"contactId":84634,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Claudia","lastName":"Meyer","fullName":"Claudia M Meyer","fullNameInverted":"Meyer, Claudia M","middleInitial":"M","primaryEmail":"claudia.m.meyer@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"programManagers":[{"contactId":183514,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Hung","lastName":"Nguyen","fullName":"Hung D Nguyen","fullNameInverted":"Nguyen, Hung D","middleInitial":"D","primaryEmail":"hung.d.nguyen@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"projectManagers":[{"contactId":209453,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Jean","lastName":"Yang-Scharlotta","fullName":"Jean Yang-scharlotta","fullNameInverted":"Yang-Scharlotta, Jean","primaryEmail":"jean.yang-scharlotta@jpl.nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"coInvestigators":[{"contactId":249915,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Joshua","lastName":"Holt","fullName":"Joshua Holt","fullNameInverted":"Holt, Joshua","primaryEmail":"jholt@albany.edu","publicEmail":false,"nacontact":false}],"website":"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/index.html","libraryItems":[],"transitions":[{"transitionId":75778,"projectId":91752,"transitionDate":"2018-09-01","path":"Closed Out","details":"As space programs increase in number and scope, there is an increasing need for radiation-hardened electronic devices and circuits. In particular, missions to high-radiation environments, such as Europa, would greatly benefit from improved radiation hardness in electronic devices. In pursuit of this goal, resistive memory (RRAM) devices were fabricated at SUNY Polytechnic Institute and evaluated for radiation hardness. Our objectives were to produce RRAM devices resistant to high levels of radiation damage and to demonstrate that these devices would improve mission lifetime in high-radiation environments. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms of radiation were investigated to provide recommendations for radiation-hardening RRAM devices, which could be applied to any candidate RRAM devices being considered for space applications. Devices were fabricated using several fabrication approaches, including patterning by shadow mask, photolithography-based etching, and photolithography-based liftoff. In each of these cases, total ionizing dose (TID) effects and displacement damage dose (DDD) effects were measured. TID effects from exposure to a 60Co gamma source were not observed to cause changes in device resistance or switching parameters in any experiments, with each device tested to at least 20 Mrad(Si). DDD was measured as radiation-generated oxygen vacancies per cm3 since oxygen vacancies are generally considered to be the active species involved in switching these devices. The lowest DDD level that caused a device to change resistance state was 1021 vacancies per cm3, and most devices failed at 1022 vacancies per cm3. This is an extremely high DDD level, even for RRAM devices, which have been reported to fail in the range of 1017-1020 vacancies per cm3. For comparison, an example flash memory device failed at 1015 vacancies per cm3. Vendor-fabricated devices with a similar composition to our own were also tested against TID and DDD. The vendor-fabricated devices did not exhibit changes due to TID, up to the tested level of 30 Mrad(Si). Meanwhile, vendor devices exhibited resistance state changes at 1021 vacancies per cm3, similar to our own devices. These results indicate that TaOx-based RRAM devices may be particularly resilient to both TID and DDD effects. The very high tolerance to radiation effects is most likely due to the high intrinsic concentration of oxygen vacancies within our devices. Based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, there are approximately 1022 oxygen vacancies per cm3 in our devices as deposited. Most devices failed when the radiation-induced vacancies reached this level, indicating suggesting that a high intrinsic vacancy concentration protects against lower levels of displacement damage. High vacancy concentration likely also protects against TID by facilitating leakage of trapped charge out of the oxide. The use of a thin switching oxide (25 nm TaOx for our devices) is also expected to improve radiation hardness, as there is less room for charge trapping. Therefore, those wishing to produce very radiation-tolerant RRAM devices can probably achieve this by using a thin oxide that contains a high intrinsic concentration of oxygen vacancies. Our devices appear to be very tolerant of radiation effects, and would greatly increase the expected lifetime of a mission to Europa or another high-radiation target compared to flash memory devices. The similar radiation performance of vendor-fabricated devices is promising for adoption of RRAM devices as radiation-hardened memory devices for use in space. With continued commercial development of these devices, RRAM devices are strong candidates for next-generation memories that are inherently rad-hard. Note: This research was partly carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, and was sponsored by a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These experiments were carried out in collaboration with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.","infoText":"Closed out","infoTextExtra":"","dateText":"September 2018"}],"responsibleMd":{"acronym":"STMD","canUserEdit":false,"city":"","external":false,"linkCount":0,"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","naorganization":false,"organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"program":{"acronym":"STRG","active":true,"description":"
\tThe Space Technology Research Grants Program will accelerate the development of "push" technologies to support the future space science and exploration needs of NASA, other government agencies and the commercial space sector. Innovative efforts with high risk and high payoff will be encouraged. The program is composed of two competitively awarded components.
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