N-doped Sn15Sb85 thin films for high speed and high thermal stability phase change memory application

The Sn15Sb85 alloy is characterized by its rapid phase transition. However, its poor thermal stability hinders its application as phase change memory material. After nitrogen doping, the crystallization temperature and 10-year data retention temperature of Sn15Sb85 thin films even reach 235‡C and 173°C, respectively. Both the crystallization activation energy and the amorphous resistance of the thin films increase as well. As a result, the material thermal stability is significant improved. The surface roughness of the films is evaluated by atomic force microscope (AFM). The phase change speed of the thin films, measured by the picosecond laser technique, remains fast.

[1]  J. Zhai,et al.  Femtosecond laser-induced crystallization of amorphous N-doped Ge8Sb92 films and in situ characterization by coherent phonon spectroscopy , 2015 .

[2]  E. Rimini,et al.  Amorphous-to-crystal transition of nitrogen- and oxygen-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 films studied by in situ resistance measurements , 2004 .

[3]  Sang-jun Choi,et al.  Structural and compositional evolution of carbon-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 film under different annealing conditions , 2013 .

[4]  Zhanshan Wang,et al.  Improved phase change behavior of Sb3Te material by ZnSb doping for phase change memory , 2015 .

[5]  J. Zhai,et al.  Oxygen-doped Sb4Te phase change films for high-temperature data retention and low-power application , 2013 .

[6]  Rong Huang,et al.  Amorphous thermal stability of Al-doped Sb2Te3 films for phase-change memory application , 2013 .

[7]  Sn12Sb88 material for phase change memory , 2009 .

[8]  K. S. Sangunni,et al.  Direct hexagonal transition of amorphous (Ge2Sb2Te5)0.9Se0.1 thin films , 2014 .

[9]  Characterization of In20Ge15Sb10Te55 Phase Change Material for Phase Change Memory with Low Power Operation and Good Data Retention , 2012 .

[10]  F. Rao,et al.  High thermal stability Sb3Te-TiN2 material for phase change memory application , 2015 .

[11]  Investigation of Cr0.06(Sb4Te)0.94 alloy for high-speed and high-data-retention phase change random access memory applications , 2015 .

[12]  Zhitang Song,et al.  N-doped Zn15Sb85 phase-change materials for higher thermal stability and lower power consumption , 2014, Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics.

[13]  Songlin Feng,et al.  N-doped Sb2Te phase change materials for higher data retention , 2011 .

[14]  Zhitang Song,et al.  Study on the phase change material Cr-doped Sb3Te1 for application in phase change memory , 2015 .

[15]  J. Zhai,et al.  Al19Sb54Se27 material for high stability and high-speed phase-change memory applications , 2013 .

[16]  Zhitang Song,et al.  Improved phase change behavior of Sb2Se material by Si addition for phase change memory , 2016 .

[17]  Bo Liu,et al.  W-Sb-Te phase-change material: A candidate for the trade-off between programming speed and data retention , 2012 .

[18]  Hong‐Bo Sun,et al.  Understanding phase-change behaviors of carbon-doped Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ for phase-change memory application. , 2014, ACS applied materials & interfaces.