Although phase-change materials (PCMs) have been studied for more than 50 years, temperature-dependent characterization of the phase transition dynamics remains challenging due to the lack of nanosecond-nanoscale thermometry. In this article, we utilize the four-terminal, indirectly heated phase-change switch (IPCS), which was originally designed for nonvolatile radio frequency (RF) applications, as an ultrafast electrothermal platform to study PCM. We propose a novel experimental setup that allows nanosecond probing of the transient resistance of the PCM, beyond the melting temperature (>1100 K), due to the built-in electrical isolation between the PCM path and the thermal actuation path of the IPCS. The embedded metallic heater can induce reversible phase transitions between the crystalline and amorphous phases of the PCM. Our platform enables simultaneous measurements of the dynamics of PCM resistance (as a probe for the phase of the material) and heater temperature, during the application of heating pulses. Furthermore, we map the surface temperature of the IPCS at steady state by scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) and show the effect of cooling by electrodes in devices with overlap between the heater and PCM contacts. Our method can be used to study chalcogenides and other amorphous semiconductors for reconfigurable electronics and neuromorphic hardware.

中文翻译：

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间接加热开关作为硫属化物相变特性纳秒探测平台


尽管相变材料 (PCM) 的研究已超过 50 年，但由于缺乏纳秒级测温技术，相变动力学的温度相关表征仍然具有挑战性。在本文中，我们利用最初为非易失性射频 (RF) 应用设计的四端间接加热相变开关 (IPCS) 作为超快电热平台来研究 PCM。我们提出了一种新颖的实验装置，由于 PCM 路径和 IPCS 的热驱动路径之间存在内置电隔离，因此可以在超过熔化温度 (>1100 K) 的情况下对 PCM 的瞬态电阻进行纳秒级探测。嵌入式金属加热器可以引起 PCM 的晶相和非晶相之间的可逆相变。我们的平台能够在施加加热脉冲期间同时测量 PCM 电阻（作为材料相的探针）和加热器温度的动态变化。此外，我们通过扫描热显微镜 (SThM) 绘制了稳态下 IPCS 的表面温度，并显示了加热器和 PCM 触点之间重叠的器件中电极的冷却效果。我们的方法可用于研究用于可重构电子设备和神经形态硬件的硫属化物和其他非晶半导体。