Memory cells of electronic memory devices such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) typically employ a number of electronic components in order to store data. For example, in order to store data, a combination of electronic components such as transistors, diodes, and/or capacitors are typically employed in such memory cells to store or not store electrical charges. A charge stored in such a memory cell, may indicate a logic “1”, and no charge stored in such a memory cell, may indicate a logic “0”.
An alternative approach for storing data is to use memory cells made of phase change material (PCM). Phase change material may include a material that can be placed into at least two physical states—e.g., a crystalline state and an amorphous state—by increasing or decreasing a temperature of the phase change material. By changing the physical state of the phase change material, certain characteristics of the material, such as electrical resistance, may also change. Such properties may be exploited to form memory cells made of phase change material (referred to herein as “PCM memory cells”).
As devices including PCM memory cells (referred to herein as “PCM memory devices”) scale to smaller sizes, fabrication may be limited by higher aspect ratios of device structures and/or limits of conventional lithography and physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes. Techniques and structures that overcome such challenges may allow continued scaling of PCM memory devices to smaller sizes, or may allow increased memory density of PCM memory devices, or combinations thereof.