Memory cell having improved mechanical stability

1. A memory cell comprising:

a bottom electrode comprising a base portion and a pillar portion on the base portion, the pillar portion and the base portion having respective outer surfaces and the pillar portion having a width less than that of the base portion;

a memory element on a top surface of the pillar portion of the bottom electrode, the memory element having a width substantially the same as that of the pillar portion;

a top electrode on the memory element, the top electrode having a width substantially the same as that of the memory element; and

a dielectric spacer contacting the outer surface of the pillar portion, memory element, the top electrode, and the outer surface of the base portion of the bottom electrode self-aligned with an outer surface of the dielectric spacer.

2. The memory cell of claim 1 , wherein the width of the pillar portion is less than a minimum feature size for a lithographic process used to form the memory cell.

3. The memory cell of claim 1 , wherein the top and bottom electrode each comprise an element chosen from a group consisting of Ti, W, Mo, Al, Ta, Cu, Pt, Ir, La, Ni, N, O, and Ru and combinations thereof.

4. The memory cell of claim 1 , wherein the memory material comprises a combination of two or more materials from a group consisting of Ge, Sb, Te, Se, In, Ti, Ga, Bi, Sn, Cu, Pd, Pb, Ag, S, Si, O, P, As, N and Au.

5. The memory cell of claim 1 , wherein the memory element and the top electrode form a multi-layer stack having a width greater than that of the pillar portion of the bottom electrode.

6. The memory cell of claim 1 , wherein the memory element and the top electrode have respective widths substantially equal to that of the pillar portion of the bottom electrode.

7. The memory cell of claim 6 , wherein the dielectric spacer contacts an outer surface of the memory element and an outer surface of the top electrode.

8. The memory cell of claim 7 , wherein the dielectric spacer surrounds the pillar portion of the bottom electrode and the memory element.

9. The memory cell of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric spacer has a thermal conductivity less than that of the memory material.

10. A method for manufacturing a memory cell, the method comprising:

forming a memory core including:

a bottom electrode comprising a base portion and a pillar portion on the base portion, the pillar portion and the base portion having respective outer surfaces and the pillar portion having a width less than that of the base portion;

a memory element on a top surface of the pillar portion of the bottom electrode, the memory element having a width substantially the same as that of the pillar portion; and

a top electrode on the memory element, the top electrode having a width substantially the same as that of the memory element; and

forming a dielectric spacer contacting the outer surface of the pillar portion, the memory element, the top electrode, and the outer surface of the base portion of the bottom electrode self-aligned with an outer surface of the dielectric spacer.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the width of the pillar portion is less than a minimum feature size for a lithographic process used to form the memory cell.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of forming a memory core comprises:

forming a layer of memory material on the bottom electrode;

forming a layer of top electrode material on the layer of memory material; and

patterning the layer of memory material and the layer of top electrode material to form a multi-layer stack comprising the memory element and the top electrode.

13. A method for manufacturing a memory cell, the method comprising:

forming a memory core including:

a bottom electrode comprising a base portion and a pillar portion on the base portion, the pillar portion and the base portion having respective outer surfaces and the pillar portion having a width less than that of the base portion;

a memory element on a top surface of the pillar portion of the bottom electrode; and

a top electrode on the memory element; and

forming a dielectric spacer contacting the outer surface of the pillar portion, the outer surface of the base portion of the bottom electrode self-aligned with an outer surface of the dielectric spacer, wherein the step of forming a memory core and the step of forming a dielectric spacer comprise:

providing a memory access layer having a top surface, the memory access layer including a conductive plug extending to the top surface of the memory access layer;

forming a layer of bottom electrode material on the top surface of the memory access layer;

forming an etch mask overlying the layer of bottom electrode material;

etching through a portion of the layer of bottom electrode material using the etch mask, thereby forming a partially etched layer including a pillar of bottom electrode material;

forming a layer of dielectric spacer material overlying the partially etched layer; and

etching the layer of dielectric spacer material and the partially etched layer to form the dielectric spacer and the bottom electrode.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the etching the layer of dielectric spacer material and the partially etched layer comprise:

anisotropically etching the layer of dielectric spacer material to form the dielectric spacer; and

etching the partially etched layer using the dielectric spacer as an etch mask, thereby forming the bottom electrode.

15. A method for manufacturing a memory cell, the method comprising:

forming a memory core including:

a bottom electrode comprising a base portion and a pillar portion on the base portion, the pillar portion and the base portion having respective outer surfaces and the pillar portion having a width less than that of the base portion;

a memory element on a top surface of the pillar portion of the bottom electrode; and

a top electrode on the memory element; and

forming a dielectric spacer contacting the outer surface of the pillar portion, the outer surface of the base portion of the bottom electrode self-aligned with an outer surface of the dielectric spacer, wherein the step of forming a memory core comprises:

providing a memory access layer having a top surface, the memory access layer including a conductive plug extending to the top surface of the memory access layer;

forming a layer of bottom electrode material on the top surface of the memory access layer;

forming a layer of memory material on the layer of bottom electrode material;

forming a layer of top electrode material on the layer of memory material;

forming an etch mask on the layer of top electrode material;

etching down through a portion of the layer of bottom electrode material using the etch mask, thereby forming a partially etched layer including a pillar of bottom electrode material and a multi-layer stack on the pillar of bottom electrode material, the multi-layer stack comprising a memory element comprising memory material on the pillar of bottom electrode material and a top electrode comprising top electrode material on the memory element.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the multi-layer stack has a width substantially equal to that of the pillar portion of the bottom electrode.

17. A method for manufacturing a memory cell, the method comprising:

providing a memory access layer having a top surface, the memory access layer including a conductive plug extending to the top surface of the memory access layer;

forming a layer of bottom electrode material on the top surface of the memory access layer;

forming a layer of memory material on the layer of bottom electrode material;

forming a layer of top electrode material on the layer of memory material;

forming an etch mask on the layer of top electrode material;

etching down through a portion of the layer of bottom electrode material using the etch mask, thereby forming a partially etched layer including a pillar of bottom electrode material and a multi-layer stack on the pillar of bottom electrode material, the multi-layer stack comprising a memory element comprising memory material on the pillar of bottom electrode material and a top electrode comprising top electrode material on the memory element;

forming a layer of dielectric spacer material on the partially etched layer and the multi-layer stack;

anisotropically etching the layer of dielectric spacer material to form a dielectric spacer contacting an outer surface of the pillar of bottom electrode material and an outer surface of the multi-layer stack; and

etching the partially etched layer using the dielectric spacer as an etch mask, thereby forming a bottom electrode comprising a base portion and a pillar portion on the base portion.