Title :
In-situ TEM observation on nanostructure evolution during electrical stressing
Author :
Kim, Jiyoung ; Choi, Kyu-Jeong ; Cha, Dongkyu ; Kim, Moon J. ; Yoon, Sung-Min ; Yu, Byoung-Gon
Author_Institution :
Mater. Sci. & Eng., Univ. of Texas-Dallas, Dallas, TX
Abstract :
We evaluated the electrical properties and change of nanostructure of Cu doped SiO2 and Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) thin film under electrical stressing. Specialized scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)-transmission electron microscope (TEM) holder, which allows us to do the electrical characterization and observation of in-situ nano-structural evolution simultaneously, used as a approach method to confirm the devices behavior. The Cu-SiO2/SiO2/Si structure observed that Cu nanoclusters, which are not fully crystallized, are randomly distributed. When voltage is applied, Cu becomes to grow and Cu cluster forms a closed packed line, which may a pathway for current flow. For GST/TiW/SiO2/Si structure, the GST film changed from amorphous phase to localized crystalline phase after electrical stressing. Localized crystallization might be due to the either joule heating or electron beam damages that are still need to be confirmed.
Keywords :
copper; crystallisation; electric properties; germanium compounds; nanostructured materials; scanning tunnelling microscopy; silicon; silicon compounds; thin films; transmission electron microscopy; Cu nanoclusters; Ge2Sb2Te5; STM; SiO2:Cu; TEM; crystalline phase; electrical properties; electrical stressing; electron beam damages; joule heating; localized crystallization; nanostructure evolution; scanning tunneling microscopy; thin film; transmission electron microscope; Amorphous materials; Crystallization; Nanoscale devices; Scanning electron microscopy; Semiconductor films; Tellurium; Transistors; Transmission electron microscopy; Tunneling; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Non-Volatile Memory Technology Symposium, 2007. NVMTS '07
Conference_Location :
Albuquerque, NM
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1361-4
DOI :
10.1109/NVMT.2007.4389952