Investigation of Charge Transport in Amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 Using the Variable-Range Hopping Model

Author

Piccinini, Enrico ; Buscemi, Fabrizio ; Tsafack, Thierry ; Rudan, Massimo ; Brunetti, Rossella ; Jacoboni, Carlo

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron., Univ. of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

fYear

2009

fDate

9-11 Sept. 2009

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

Chalcogenide GST materials can suitably be exploited for manufacturing phase-change memory devices. In this paper a transport model for the amorphous phase of GST is investigated, based on the variable-range hopping model. The model is implemented into a Monte Carlo current-driven simulation of a test device made of a layer of amorphous Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ in contact with two planar metallic electrodes. The mechanisms governing electron transport within the device are discussed in relation to the variation of physical parameters, such as operating current, trap density, and coupling with the electric field inside the device.

Keywords

Monte Carlo methods; amorphous semiconductors; antimony compounds; current density; electrodes; germanium compounds; hopping conduction; phase change memories; semiconductor thin films; tellurium compounds; Ge₂Sb₂Te₅; Monte Carlo current-driven simulation; amorphous phase; chalcogenide material layer; charge transport; current density; electric field; electron transport; phase-change memory devices; planar metallic electrodes; trap density; variable-range hopping model; Amorphous materials; Computer science; Contacts; Crystalline materials; Electron traps; Jacobian matrices; Phase change memory; Reservoirs; Testing; Threshold voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices, 2009. SISPAD '09. International Conference on

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

ISSN

1946-1569

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-3974-8

Electronic_ISBN

1946-1569

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SISPAD.2009.5290207

Filename

5290207