Indexed by: Journal paper

First Author: chenziqi

Correspondence Author: TONG HAO

Co-author: 缪向水,顾伟,赵锐哲,WANG LUN,李鑫

Journal: Applied Physics Letters

Affiliation of Author(s): 华中科技大学

Discipline: Engineering

First-Level Discipline: Electronic Science And Technology

Document Type: J

Volume: 118

Issue: 20

Page Number: 203502

DOI number: 10.1063/5.0048883

Date of Publication: 4433-03-01

Abstract: In this paper, we present a multiple layer device for investigating the impact of electric field on the conductance switching of GeTe phase change material excluding the contribution from Joule heat. The device includes a dielectric layer with excellent current-blocking which can result in a large electric field generated in the amorphous GeTe film and almost no current. With the generated electric field far beyond its threshold value for the conductance switching, our experimental data indicate that the conductance switching has not happened in the GeTe film. This indicates that the ovonic threshold switching (OTS) could not be induced by the purely electric field in amorphous chalcogenide film. Meanwhile, a modified thermal-assist model based on the Poole–Frenkel (PF) mechanism has been proposed to verify the thermal assistance is indispensable in the OTS process. And the modified model is well applied on the GeTe devices with different scales, which further supports the current experimental conclusion. This contributes to the further study of the OTS mechanism and application of the phase-change memory (PCM).

Links to published journals: https://pubs.aip.org/aip/apl/article/118/20/203502/40359