CrxSb2Te1 materials for phase change memory with high speed and good thermal stability performance

Phase change memory (PCM) is one of the most promising candidates for the next-generation non-volatile memory, of which phase change material as the storage media is the key factor. In this paper, we proposed a novel phase change material CrxSb2Te1, which exhibits faster phase transition speed, better thermal stability and higher reliability compared with traditional Ge2Sb2Te5. With the increase of doped-Cr, the grain sizes are refined and the volume change rate decreases. What’s more, in the composition range studied, the crystal structure of CrxSb2Te1 films is single hexagonal phase without phase separation. For preferred Cr0.25Sb2Te1 and Cr0.41Sb2Te1 films, the resistance ratios between amorphous and crystalline states are up to two orders of magnitude or more; the temperatures for 10-year-data-rentation are 102.7 and 128.4 °C, respectively, showing good thermal stability performance. For the PCM cells based on the preferred Cr0.25Sb2Te1 and Cr0.41Sb2Te1 films, the threshold current/threshold voltage are about 4 μA/1.3 V and 4 μA/1.2 V, respectively; and when the voltage pulse width is short as 30 ns, the SET/RESET voltages are 1.7/3.3 and 1.9/4.5 V, respectively, showing high speed application potential for PCM.