Eutectic Sb_7.4Te_92.6 thin film for non-volatile phase-change memories

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the structure and electrical properties of eutectic Sb_7.4Te_92.6 as made thin films to evaluate their potentiality for application to non-volatile phase-change memories.

The films were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition technique. The films were characterized by using X-ray diffraction in grazing-incident geometry, differential scanning calorimetry, Raman spectroscopy and transversal current–voltage curves.

The memory effect state, characteristic of a typical phase-change memory material, was observed. The temperature of crystallization was about 100ºC.

Further studies on endurance, scaling and SET/RESET operations are needed.

One of the main characteristic values, the hold voltage and the threshold voltage values, were about 0.85 and 1.2 V, respectively, in a line with those of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅, GeTe and Sb₂Te being considered to date as the main compounds for phase-change memory devices.

The conduction mechanism in the amorphous regime is highly agreed with the Poole–Frenkel effect in deep traps.