Crystal growth within a phase change memory cell

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 4314
• Main Authors: Sebastian, Abu, Le Gallo, Manuel, Krebs, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 07-07-2014; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301; 639/925; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5314

In spite of the prominent role played by phase change materials in information technology, a detailed understanding of the central property of such materials, namely the phase change mechanism, is still lacking mostly because of difficulties associated with experimental measurements. Here, we measure the crystal growth velocity of a phase change material at both the nanometre length and the nanosecond timescale using phase-change memory cells. The material is studied in the technologically relevant melt-quenched phase and directly in the environment in which the phase change material is going to be used in the application. We present a consistent description of the temperature dependence of the crystal growth velocity in the glass and the super-cooled liquid up to the melting temperature.
Phase change materials play a key role in information technology. Here, the authors measure the crystal growth velocity in doped Ge
2
Sb
2
Te
5
up to the melting temperature, exploiting the nanoscale dimensions and the fast thermal dynamics of a phase change memory cell.