A phase change memory has a first electrode formed over a substrate, a patterned phase change material layer formed over the first electrode to contact the first electrode and including a conductive material, and a second electrode formed over the patterned phase change material layer to contact the patterned phase change material layer. Instead of heat generation, the conductive channel is used to adjust resistance while maintaining characteristics of non-volatile memories. Hence, the power consumption can be reduced. Due to no use of the phase change, the shortened lifetime of equipment for fabricating semiconductor memories, usually caused by a volume change during the phase change, can be reduced.