Phase change materials and their application to random access memory technology

Tuning electronic properties of graphene heterostructures by amorphous-to-crystalline phase transitions

“…GST materials are also leading candidates for computer random access memory (PC-RAM) [17][18][19] and are expected to provide non-volatile memory in future low-energy electronic devices. The phase change in PCRAMs is initiated by resistive heating, and the state is monitored by measuring the resistivity [20].…”

Disorder and Transport Properties of In3SbTe2 – an X‐ray, Neutron and Electron Diffraction Study

“…[6] For PCRAMs, a certain degree of electrical resistivity (up to 10 4 Ω cm at room temperature) is essential as switching between the amorphous and crystalline states is achieved by "resistance heating" using electrical pulses of variable current and duration. [7] Until now there are basically two classes of PCMs in application, the so-called GST materials and AIST materials, respectively. AIST materials, i.e.…”

Crystallization of Ge:Sb:Te Thin Films for Phase Change Memory Application

“…Necessary to note that as-prepared and melt-quenched Ge:Sb:Te amorphous materials show different crystallization kinetics (Nobukuni et al, 1999, Park et al, 1999, Khulbe et al, 2000, Wei et al, 2003, Kalb et al, 2004, Raoux et al, 2008. It has been proposed in the literature that for melt-quenched amorphous materials may exist: embryos following the condensation and evaporation of embryos to form crystalline clusters (Khulbe et al, 2000), preexisting clusters (Park et al, 1999), crystal nuclei (Wei et al, 2003), sinks and voids after repeated overwriting (Nobukuni et al, 1999), locally ordered regions with structure similar to that of crystalline Sb (Naito et al, 2004) or a crystalline amorphous border (Raoux et al, 2008).…”

“…It has been proposed in the literature that for melt-quenched amorphous materials may exist: embryos following the condensation and evaporation of embryos to form crystalline clusters (Khulbe et al, 2000), preexisting clusters (Park et al, 1999), crystal nuclei (Wei et al, 2003), sinks and voids after repeated overwriting (Nobukuni et al, 1999), locally ordered regions with structure similar to that of crystalline Sb (Naito et al, 2004) or a crystalline amorphous border (Raoux et al, 2008). In spite of different models, crystallization in the melt-quenched amorphous material can start from these nucleation centers, which decrease incubation time and increase crystallization speed.…”