Crystallization Properties of Mg₃₅Sb₆₅/Sb Nanocomposite Multilayer Films for Phase Change Memory Application

Abstract

The phase transition properties of Mg35Sb65/Sb multilayer thin films were studied, including the crystallization mechanism, surface morphology, atomic bonding mode and adhesion strength. With the increase of the thickness of Mg35Sb65 interlayers, Mg35Sb65/Sb thin film had better thermal stability and lower electrical conductivity. The growth-dominated crystallization mechanism made Mg35Sb65/Sb have ultra-fast phase change speed. The subtle change on surface morphology was ascribed to the grain growth and interface stress during crystallization. The scratch test revealed the adhesion strength contrast before and after crystallization. This work showed that Mg35Sb65/Sb multilayer film was a potential material with fast speed and good thermal stability for phase change memory application.

Simultaneously higher thermal stability and lower resistance drifting for Sb/In48.9Sb15.5Te35.6 nanocomposite multilayer films

“…The point at which the film on the base layer began to delaminate and crack is called the critical point C. The vertical load at point C is defined as the critical load L c , which could quantitatively characterize the bond strength between the film and silicon wafer. 13 As shown in the figure, the critical loads L c of Sb and [Sb(9 nm)/IST(1 nm)] 40 films at annealing temperature 230 °C were 13.1 and 15.8 mN, respectively. The results demonstrated that the bonding strength of the [Sb(9 nm)/IST(1 nm)] 40 film was higher, which might be related to the size shrinkage and density increase in the crystallization process after compositing.…”

“…The E σ of the amorphous films was about half the value of the band gap E g . 13 Therefore, a wider band gap was obtained after the addition of IST, resulting in better amorphous thermal stability of the phase change film.…”

“…11,12 The references demonstrated that Sb had an ultra-fast phase transition rate but poor thermal stability. 13 Many Sb-rich phase change materials had been developed to include multilayer composite phase change films, such as Sb 65 Se 35 /Sb, 14 Sb/SiO 2 (ref. 15) and GeTe/Sb.…”

An Optimized Fast Stair-case Set Pulse with Variable Width for Phase Change Random Access Memory

“…There are many attractive features of PCRAM such as high density, high access speed, low power consumption and compatibility with CMOS. [1][2][3][4][5] The data storage capability of PCRAM is based on the phase change material transition between crystalline state (low resistance, set state, data 1) and amorphous state (high resistance, reset state, data 0).…”