Outstanding phase-change behaviors of GaGeSbTe material for phase-change memory application. (May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fang, Wencheng; Song, Sannian; Zhao, Jin; Li, Chengxing; Cai, Daolin; Song, Zhitang
• Is Part Of: Materials research bulletin. Volume 149(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-05
• Subjects: Higher speed -- lower power -- GaGST -- PCM; Materials -- Periodicals; Crystal growth -- Periodicals; Matériaux -- Périodiques; Cristaux -- Croissance -- Périodiques; Crystal growth; Materials; Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.materresbull.2022.111731
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-5408

Abstract

Highlight: The Ga-doped GaGST material has a great improvement in thermal stability, which has a significant promotion effect on the enhancement of the data retention ability of the phase change memory. The density change of GaGST material before and after crystallization is smaller than that of GST material, which is beneficial to the improvement of the stability of the phase change material after multiple phase changes. Phase change memory devices based on GaGST materials have extremely low power consumption. Compared with GST materials, GaGST has a faster crystallization speed (6 ns). Abstract: In this paper, GaGST films with different Ga contents were prepared by co-sputtering of Ge3.4 Sb2.3 Te5 target and Ga2 Ge3.8 Sb2.3 Te5 target to obtain a high-speed and low-power phase change material. The present data emphasize that compared with Ge2 Sb2 Te5, Ga0.4 Ge3.5 Sb2.3 Te5 exhibits a higher crystallization temperature(193 °C) and better data retention ability (108 °C for 10 years). XPS results show that Ga and Sb combine to form GaSb, and it reduces the density change after crystallization of GaGST material to 2.7%. At the same time, it has a smaller grain size(∼5–10 nm) and a lower drift(<0.059). Furthermore, the behavior of reversible phase change can be realized by a 6 ns width electric pulse, and the power consumption under the action of this pulse only needs an ultra-low power consumption of 0.16pJ. The results of materials and devices show that Ga0.4 Ge3.5 Sb2.3 Te5 is a very suitable material for phase-change memory(PCM). Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract