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Phase-change materials: The view from the liquid phase and the metallicity parameter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2019

Shuai Wei ,
Pierre Lucas  and
C. Austen Angell
Shuai Wei
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, RWTH Aachen University, Germany; swei@physik.rwth-aachen.de
Pierre Lucas
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Arizona, USA; Pierre@u.arizona.edu
C. Austen Angell
Affiliation:
School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, USA; caa@asu.edu
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Abstract

While fast-switching rewritable nonvolatile memory units based on phase-change materials (PCMs) are already in production at major technology companies such as Intel (16–64 GB chips are currently available), an in-depth understanding of the physical factors that determine their success is still lacking. Recently, we have argued for a liquid-phase metal-to-semiconductor transition (M-SC), located not far below the melting point, Tm, as essential. The M-SC is itself a consequence of atomic rearrangements that are involved in a fragile-to-strong viscosity transition that controls both the speed of crystallization and the stabilization of the semiconducting state. Here, we review past work and introduce a new parameter, the “metallicity” (inverse of the average Pauling electronegativity of a multicomponent alloy). When Tm-scaled temperatures of known M-SCs of Group IV, V, and VI alloys are plotted against their metallicities, the curvilinear plot leads directly to the composition zone of all known PCMs and the temperature interval below Tm, where the transition should occur. The metallicity concept could provide guidance for tailoring PCMs.

Keywords

liquidglassmetalsemiconductingphase transformation
Type
Phase-Change Materials in Electronics and Photonics
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 44 , Issue 9: Phase-Change Materials in Electronics and Photonics , September 2019 , pp. 691 - 698
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2019 

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