Demystifying DRAM Read Disturbance: RowHammer and RowPress Phenomena

Computer Science > Hardware Architecture [Submitted on 30 Jul 2026] Title:Demystifying DRAM Read Disturbance: Bridging the Gap Between Experimental Characterization and Device-Level Modeling of RowHammer and RowPress Phenomena View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:DRAM read disturbance, like RowHammer and RowPress, is a critical robustness issue where accessing DRAM can cause unintended bitflips in other unaccessed DRAM locations. DRAM read disturbance bitflips significantly impact the safe, secure, and reliable operation of DRAM-based computing systems. Many prior works experimentally characterize these bitflips and propose mitigations based on empirical results. Other device-level works study their underlying physical mechanisms, but these mechanisms do not fully explain all major empirical observations. Our goal is to bridge the gap between experimental characterization and device-level modeling and understanding of RowHammer and RowPress, providing a principled foundation for future work on understanding, characterizing, and mitigating DRAM read disturbance. We first identify and demonstrate gaps and inconsistencies between the physical mechanisms of RowHammer and RowPress described by existing device-level models and experimental characterization of their bitflips. We focus on three fundamental metrics that should map to first-order physical mechanisms: 1) bitflip directions, 2) bitflip counts, and 3) the minimum number of aggressor row activations that trigger the first bitflips (i.e., ACmin). Second, we present a comprehensive and rigorous set of TCAD simulations that match phenomena observed in experimental characterizations of RowHammer and RowPress bitflips. From our results, we 1) summarize updated device-level error mechanisms for understanding RowHammer and RowPress bitflips, and 2) identify key modeling and simulation parameters that significantly affect whether simulation results match real-chip characterization. We discuss implications for 1) rigorous, comprehensive, and efficient experimental characterization methodologies of DRAM read disturbance bitflips, and 2) the design of DRAM read disturbance mitigation techniques. References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.