Chalcogenide phase change induced with single-wall carbon nanotube heaters

Author

Liao, Albert ; Xiong, Feng ; Darmawikarta, Kristof ; Abelson, John ; Pop, Eric

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

22-24 June 2009

Firstpage

239

Lastpage

240

Abstract

Phase-change memory (PCM) is a promising candidate for non-volatile data storage. In this study, a key step in this area, by inducing ultra-narrow (5-10 nm) phase-change regions with individual single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNTs) heaters, and programming currents of the order 10 Â¿A was demonstrated. Electrical measurements of such devices show step-like increases in current (up to 15 Â¿A steps) that demonstrate GST crystallization by Joule heating in the SWNTs, which opens up a parallel current flow path. Electrical characteristic of device before and after GST sputtering, shows change in resistance with sweep and GST crystallization is observed by AFM topography.

Keywords

amorphous semiconductors; antimony compounds; carbon nanotubes; crystallisation; electric resistance; germanium compounds; nanotube devices; phase change materials; phase change memories; semiconductor thin films; sputtered coatings; tellurium compounds; AFM topography; GST crystallization; Ge₂Te₂Sb₅-C; Joule heating; chalcogenide phase change memory; electrical resistance; nonvolatile data storage; programming currents; single-wall carbon nanotube heaters; Carbon nanotubes; Crystallization; Current measurement; Electric variables measurement; Electrical resistance measurement; Fluid flow measurement; Nonvolatile memory; Phase change materials; Phase change memory; Resistance heating;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Device Research Conference, 2009. DRC 2009

Conference_Location

University Park, PA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-3528-9

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-3527-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/DRC.2009.5354846

Filename

5354846