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Song WX, Tang Q, Zhao J, Veron M, Zhou X, Zheng Y, Cai D, Cheng Y, Xin T, Liu ZP, Song Z. Tuning the Crystallization Mechanism by Composition Vacancy in Phase Change Materials. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2024. [PMID: 38498850 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c18538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
Interface-influenced crystallization is crucial to understanding the nucleation- and growth-dominated crystallization mechanisms in phase-change materials (PCMs), but little is known. Here, we find that composition vacancy can reduce the interface energy by decreasing the coordinate number (CN) at the interface. Compared to growth-dominated GeTe, nucleation-dominated Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) exhibits composition vacancies in the (111) interface to saturate or stabilize the Te-terminated plane. Together, the experimental and computational results provide evidence that GST prefers (111) with reduced CN. Furthermore, the (8 - n) bonding rule, rather than CN6, in the nuclei of both GeTe and GST results in lower interface energy, allowing crystallization to be observed at the simulation time in general PCMs. In comparison to GeTe, the reduced CN in the GST nuclei further decreases the interface energy, promoting faster nucleation. Our findings provide an approach to designing ultrafast phase-change memory through vacancy-stabilized interfaces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen-Xiong Song
- National Key Laboratory of Materials for Integrated Circuits, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Qiongyan Tang
- Key Laboratory of Polar Materials and Devices (MOE), Department of Electronics, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Jin Zhao
- National Key Laboratory of Materials for Integrated Circuits, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Muriel Veron
- University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, SIMAP, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Xilin Zhou
- National Key Laboratory of Materials for Integrated Circuits, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Yonghui Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Polar Materials and Devices (MOE), Department of Electronics, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Daolin Cai
- National Key Laboratory of Materials for Integrated Circuits, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Yan Cheng
- Key Laboratory of Polar Materials and Devices (MOE), Department of Electronics, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Tianjiao Xin
- National Key Laboratory of Materials for Integrated Circuits, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Zhi-Pan Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Zhitang Song
- National Key Laboratory of Materials for Integrated Circuits, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
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Qiao Y, Zhao J, Sun H, Song Z, Xue Y, Li J, Song S. Pt Modified Sb 2Te 3 Alloy Ensuring High-Performance Phase Change Memory. NANOMATERIALS 2022; 12:nano12121996. [PMID: 35745335 PMCID: PMC9229571 DOI: 10.3390/nano12121996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2022] [Revised: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Phase change memory (PCM), due to the advantages in capacity and endurance, has the opportunity to become the next generation of general−purpose memory. However, operation speed and data retention are still bottlenecks for PCM development. The most direct way to solve this problem is to find a material with high speed and good thermal stability. In this paper, platinum doping is proposed to improve performance. The 10-year data retention temperature of the doped material is up to 104 °C; the device achieves an operation speed of 6 ns and more than 3 × 105 operation cycles. An excellent performance was derived from the reduced grain size (10 nm) and the smaller density change rate (4.76%), which are less than those of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) and Sb2Te3. Hence, platinum doping is an effective approach to improve the performance of PCM and provide both good thermal stability and high operation speed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Qiao
- The Microelectronic Research & Development Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China; (Y.Q.); (H.S.)
| | - Jin Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China; (J.Z.); (Z.S.)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Haodong Sun
- The Microelectronic Research & Development Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China; (Y.Q.); (H.S.)
| | - Zhitang Song
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China; (J.Z.); (Z.S.)
| | - Yuan Xue
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China; (J.Z.); (Z.S.)
- Correspondence: (Y.X.); (J.L.); (S.S.)
| | - Jiao Li
- The Microelectronic Research & Development Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China; (Y.Q.); (H.S.)
- Department of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
- Correspondence: (Y.X.); (J.L.); (S.S.)
| | - Sannian Song
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China; (J.Z.); (Z.S.)
- Correspondence: (Y.X.); (J.L.); (S.S.)
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Xu S, Wu W, Gu H, Zhou X, Shen B, Zhai J. Improved thermal stability and power consumption performances of Ge1Sb9 phase change thin film via doping yttrium. CrystEngComm 2022. [DOI: 10.1039/d2ce00691j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The effect of yttrium doping on the phase transition properties and crystal structure of Ge1Sb9 thin films was studied. Y-doped Ge1Sb9 thin films have higher crystallization temperature (218 °C) and...
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Liu B, Liu W, Li Z, Li K, Wu L, Zhou J, Song Z, Sun Z. Y-Doped Sb 2Te 3 Phase-Change Materials: Toward a Universal Memory. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2020; 12:20672-20679. [PMID: 32283921 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c03027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The disadvantages of high power consumption and slow operating speed hinder the application of phase-change materials (PCMs) for a universal memory. In this work, based on a rigorous experimental scheme, we synthesized a series of YxSb2-xTe3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.333) PCMs and demonstrated that Y0.25Sb1.75Te3 (YST) is an excellent candidate material for the universal phase-change memory. This YST PCM, even being integrated into a conventional T-shaped device, exhibits an ultralow reset power consumption of 1.3 pJ and a competitive fast set speed of 6 ns. The ultralow power consumption is attributed to the Y-reduced thermal and electrical conductivity, while the maintained crystal structure of Sb2Te3 and the grain refinement provide the competitive fast crystallization speed. This work highlights a novel way to obtain new PCMs with lower power consumption and competitive fast speed toward a universal memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Liu
- School of Materials Science and Engineering and Center for Integrated Computational Materials Engineering, International Research Institute for Multidisciplinary Science, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Wanliang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Zhen Li
- School of Materials Science and Engineering and Center for Integrated Computational Materials Engineering, International Research Institute for Multidisciplinary Science, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Kaiqi Li
- School of Materials Science and Engineering and Center for Integrated Computational Materials Engineering, International Research Institute for Multidisciplinary Science, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Liangcai Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Jian Zhou
- School of Materials Science and Engineering and Center for Integrated Computational Materials Engineering, International Research Institute for Multidisciplinary Science, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Zhitang Song
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Zhimei Sun
- School of Materials Science and Engineering and Center for Integrated Computational Materials Engineering, International Research Institute for Multidisciplinary Science, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
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Ren K, Xia M, Zhu S, Wang G, Xin T, Lv S, Song Z. Crystal-Like Glassy Structure in Sc-Doped BiSbTe Ensuring Excellent Speed and Power Efficiency in Phase Change Memory. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2020; 12:16601-16608. [PMID: 32174106 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c00476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Phase change memory (PCM) is regarded as a promising technology for storage-class memory and neuromorphic computing, owing to the excellent performances in operation speed, data retention, endurance, and controllable crystallization dynamics, whereas the high power consumption of PCM remains to be a short-board characteristic that limits its extensive applications. Here, Sc-doped Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 has been proposed for high-speed and low-power PCM applications. An operation speed of 6 ns and a threshold current of 0.7 mA have been achieved in 190 nm Sc0.23Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 PCM, which consumes lower power than GeSbTe and ScSbTe PCM. A good endurance of 5 × 105 has been achieved, which is attributed to the small volume change of 4% during phase change and a good homogeneity phase in the crystalline state. The structure of amorphous Sc0.23Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 has been characterized by experimental and theoretical methods, showing the existence of a large amount of crystal-like structural factions, which can efficiently minimize the atomic movements required for crystallization and subsequently improve the operation speed and power efficiency. The low diffusivity of Sc and Bi at room temperature and the rapidly increased diffusivity of Bi at elevated temperatures are fundamental for the high data retention of 94 °C and the fast crystallization in Sc0.23Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3. The combination of high atomic mobility and minimized atomic movements during crystallization ensures the high speed and low power consumption of Sc0.23Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 PCM, which can promote its application to energy-efficient systems, that is, AI chips and wearable electronics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kun Ren
- College of Materials and Environmental Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310018, China
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Laboratory of Nanotechnology, Shanghai Institute of Micro-System and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Mengjiao Xia
- International Laboratory of Quantum Functional Materials of Henan, School of Physics and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Shuaishuai Zhu
- ULVAC Research Center Suzhou Company, Ltd, Suzhou 215026, China
| | - Guoxiang Wang
- Research Institute of Advanced Technologies, Laboratory of Infrared Materials and Devices, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, China
| | - Tianjiao Xin
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Laboratory of Nanotechnology, Shanghai Institute of Micro-System and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Shilong Lv
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Laboratory of Nanotechnology, Shanghai Institute of Micro-System and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
| | - Zhitang Song
- State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Laboratory of Nanotechnology, Shanghai Institute of Micro-System and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China
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