论文类型：期刊论文
第一作者：冯金龙
通讯作者：缪向水
合写作者：徐明,程晓敏,林琪,王校杰,徐萌
发表刊物：Applied Physics Letters
所属单位：华中科技大学
学科门类：工学
一级学科：电子科学与技术
文献类型：J
卷号：112
期号：7
页面范围：071902
关键字：Phase transitions, Chalcogenides, Phase change memories, Memory device
DOI码：10.1063/1.5006718
发表时间：4314-03-01
摘要：Phase change memory (PCM) is an important candidate for future memory devices. The crystalline phase of PCM materials contains abundant intrinsic vacancies, which plays an important role in the rapid phase transition upon memory switching. However, few experimental efforts have been invested to study these invisible entities. In this work, Au dopants are alloyed into the crystalline GeTe to fill the intrinsic Ge vacancies so that the role of these vacancies in the amorphization of GeTe can be indirectly studied. As a result, the reduction of Ge vacancies induced by Au dopants hampers the amorphization of GeTe as the activation energy of this process becomes higher. This is because the vacancy-interrupted lattice can be “repaired” by Au dopants with the recovery of bond connectivity. Our results demonstrate the importance of vacancies in the phase transition of chalcogenides, and we employ the percolation theory to explain the impact of these intrinsic defects on this vacancy-ridden crystal quantitatively. Specifically, the threshold of amorphization increases with the decrease in vacancies. The understanding of the vacancy effect sheds light on the long-standing puzzle of the mechanism of ultra-fast phase transition in PCMs. It also paves the way for designing low-power-consumption electronic devices by reducing the threshold of amorphization in chalcogenides.
发布期刊链接：https://pubs.aip.org/aip/apl/article-abstract/112/7/071902/36269/Gold-fillings-unravel-the-vacancy-role-in-the?redirectedFrom=fulltext