ELECTROTHERMAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PHASE-CHANGE FILMS AND DEVICES

Authors : Gokhan Bakan

Pages : 1057-1065

Doi:10.18038/aubtda.304357

View : 12 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2017-12-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The reversible changes in the optical properties of the phase-change materials have made the rewritable optical storage possible which has revolutionized the dissemination of data since 1990s. For the last two decades, the phase-change materials have been studied extensively for its applications as nonvolatile memory elements insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(phase-change memory insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(PCM); devices);. While the PCM devices were initially considered as replacements for the flash memory, today they promise a universal memory acting as the main memory and the storage unit. Here we demonstrate a simple alternative to study phase-change films and devices for further fundamental studies. The films are deposited using a single sputtering target and the devices are formed using single lithography, deposition and liftoff steps. The electrical resistivity of the films and devices are characterized in a temperature range varying from room temperature to 250 °C. Finally, microscale GST wires are amorphized by melting using self-heating and quenching.
Keywords : Phase change devices, nonvolatile memory, electrothermal effects