Role of substrate temperature and tellurium flux on the electrical and optical properties of MBE grown GeTe and Sb2Te3 thin films on GaAs (100)

Abstract

Van der Waals layered GeTe/Sb2Te3 chalcogenide superlattices have demonstrated outstanding performance for use in dynamic resistive memories in what is known as interfacial phase change memory devices due to their low power requirement and fast switching. These devices are made from the periodic stacking of nanometer thick crystalline layers of chalcogenide phase change materials. The mechanism for this transition is still debated, though it varies from that of traditional phase change melt-quench transition observed in singular layers of GeTe and Sb2Te3. In order to better understand the mechanism and behavior of this transition, a thorough study on each constituent layer and the parameters for growth via molecular beam epitaxy was performed. In this work, the authors show the effect of tellurium overpressure and substrate temperature on the growth of thin film GeTe and Sb2Te3 on (100) GaAs. The authors demonstrate the significant role during growth that tellurium overpressure plays in the transport properties of both GeTe and Sb2Te3, as well as the negligible impact this has on both the structural and optical properties. The highest mobility recorded was 466 cm2/V s with a p-type bulk carrier concentration of 1.5 × 1019 cm−3 in Sb2Te3. For GeTe, the highest achieved was 55 cm2/V s at a p-type bulk carrier concentration of 8.6 × 1020 cm−3. The authors discuss transport properties, orientation, and crystal structure and the parameters needed to achieve high mobility chalcogenide thin films.

Spin–Orbit Torques and Spin Hall Magnetoresistance Generated by Twin‐Free and Amorphous Bi0.9Sb0.1 Topological Insulator Films

“…[27][28][29] Their growth as thin films further requires an overpressure of Se and Te, with a consequent limitation in stoichiometry accuracy. [30] As a consequence, the bismuth chalcogenides often present metallic bulk conductivity due to the presence of Se or Te vacancies. [31,32] The Bi 1−x Sb x compound with 0.07 < x < 0.22 is a TI that avoids many of these issues.…”

Multilevel transmission contrast in optical structures with thin films of GeTe

“…Measurement of the optical properties of thin films made of phase-change mate-rials by photometric and ellipsometric methods [8,9] allows to optimize the optical characteristics of multilayer structures using matrix methods for calculating the optical characteristics of reflection R, transmission T and absorption A [10]. The initial data are the parameters of the multilayer structure and the dependence of the n(λ) and k(λ).…”