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Crystallization Characteristics of Ge-Sb Phase Change Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Simone Raoux ,
Cyril Cabral ,
Lia Krusin-Elbaum ,
Jean L. Jordan-Sweet ,
Martin Salinga ,
Anita Madan  and
Teresa Pinto
Simone Raoux
Affiliation:
simone_raoux@almaden.ibm.com, IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California, 95120, United States, 408 927 2069, 408 927 2510
Cyril Cabral
Affiliation:
cabral@us.ibm.com, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, United States
Lia Krusin-Elbaum
Affiliation:
krusin@us.ibm.com, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, United States
Jean L. Jordan-Sweet
Affiliation:
jljs@us.ibm.com, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, United States
Martin Salinga
Affiliation:
martin.salinga@physik.rwth-aachen.de, 1. Physikalisches Institut (1A), RWTH University of Technology, Aachen, Germany
Anita Madan
Affiliation:
madaanit@us.ibm.com, IBM Hudson Valley Research Park, Hopewell Junction, New York, United States
Teresa Pinto
Affiliation:
tpinto@us.ibm.com, IBM Hudson Valley Research Park, Hopewell Junction, New York, United States
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Abstract

The crystallization behavior of Ge-Sb phase change materials with variable Ge:Sb ratio X between 0.079 and 4.3 was studied using time-resolved x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, x-ray reflectivity, optical reflectivity and resistivity vs. temperature measurements. It was found that the crystallization temperature increases with Ge content from about 130 °C for X = 0.079 to about 450 °C for X = 4.3. For low X, Sb x-ray diffraction peaks occurred during a heating ramp at lower temperature than Ge diffraction peaks. For X = 1.44 and higher, Sb and Ge peaks occurred at the same temperature. Mass density change upon crystallization and optical and electrical contrast between the phases show a maximum for the eutectic alloy with X = 0.17. The large change in materials properties with composition allows tailoring of the crystallization properties for specific application requirements.

Keywords

phase transformationGeSb
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1160: Symposium H – Materials and Physics for Nonvolatile Memories , 2009 , 1160-H14-07
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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