Simultaneously achieving high performance of thermal stability and power consumption via doping yttrium in Sn₁₅Sb₈₅ thin film

Abstract

The effects of yttrium dopants on the phase change behaviour and microstructure of Sn15Sb85 films have been systematically investigated. The yttrium-doped Sn15Sb85 film has the higher phase transition temperature, ten-year data retention ability and crystallization activation energy, which represent the great improvement of thermal stability and data retention. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal that the amorphous Sn and Y components restrict the grain growth and decrease the grain size. Raman mode typically associated with Sb are altered when the substance crystallized. Atomic force microscopy results show that the surface morphology of the doped films becomes smoother. T-shaped phase change storage cells based on yttrium-doped Sn15Sb85 films exhibit the lower power consumption. The results demonstrate that the crystallization characteristics of Sn15Sb85 film can be tuned and optimized through yttrium dopant for the excellent performances of phase change memory.

Influence of samarium modification on the phase-change performance and phase structure of tin antimonide

“…The inverse shifts in the binding energy of Sn and Sb indicate that the original bonding structure has been changed. It is recognized that the values of electronegativity of Sm, Sn and Sb are 1.17, 1.96 and 2.05, respectively [28]. Due to the lowest electronegative property of Sm of the three elements, the binding energy of Sn and Sb reduce when Sm is bonded to Sn or Sb.…”