Spatio-Temporal Correlations in Memristive Crossbar Arrays due to Thermal Effects

Memristive valence change memory (VCM) cells show a strong non-linearity in the switching kinetics which is induced by a temperature increase. In this respect, thermal crosstalk can be observed in highly integrated crossbar arrays which may impact the resistance state of adjacent devices. Additionally, due to the thermal capacitance, a VCM cell can remain thermally active after a pulse and thus influence the temperature conditions for a possible subsequent pulse. By using a finite element model of a crossbar array, it is shown that spatio-temporal thermal correlations can occur and are capable of affecting the resistive state of adjacent cells. This new functional behavior can potentially be used for future neuromorphic computing applications.