Lanlan Shen

Phase-change properties of GeSbTe thin films deposited by plasma-enchanced atomic layer depositon

Phase-change access memory (PCM) appears to be the strongest candidate for next-generation high-density nonvolatile memory. The fabrication of ultrahigh-density PCM depends heavily on the thin-film growth technique for the phase-changing chalcogenide material. In this study, Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) and GeSb8Te thin films were deposited by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (ALD) method using Ge [(CH3)2 N]4, Sb [(CH3)2 N]3, Te(C4H9)2 as precursors and plasma-activated H2 gas as reducing agent of the metallorganic precursors. Compared with GST-based device, GeSb8Te-based device exhibits a faster switching speed and reduced reset voltage, which is attributed to the growth-dominated crystallization mechanism of the Sb-rich GeSb8Te films. These results show that ALD is an attractive method for preparation of phase-change materials.

Phase change properties of Ti-Sb-Te thin films deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition

Phase change random access memory (PCM) appears to be the strongest candidate for next-generation high density nonvolatile memory. The fabrication of ultrahigh density PCM depends heavily on the thin film growth technique for the phase changing chalcogenide material. In this study, TiSb2Te4 (TST) thin films were deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) method using TiCl4, SbCl3, (Et3Si)2Te as precursors. The threshold voltage for the cell based on thermal ALD-deposited TST is about 2.0 V, which is much lower than that (3.5 V) of the device based on PVD-deposited Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) with the identical cell architecture. Tests of TST-based PCM cells have demonstrated a fast switching rate of ~100 ns. Furthermore, because of the lower melting point and thermal conductivities of TST materials, TST-based PCM cells exhibit 19% reduction of pulse voltages for Reset operation compared with GST-based PCM cells. These results show that thermal ALD is an attractive method for the preparation of phase change materials.

(GaSb) 0.5 –Ge 1.6 Te Alloys for High-Temperature Phase Change Memory Applications

In this paper, phase change characteristics of (GaSb)0.5–Ge1.6Te alloy were investigated for long data retention phase change memory application. (GaSb)0.5–Ge1.6Te film has high crystallization temperature (357 °C) and large crystallization activation energy (4.57 eV), resulting in a good data retention ability (251 °C for 10 years). The prominent advantages can be seen in comparison with those of pure GeTe and Ge2Sb2Te5. The fine crystal grain size is smaller than GeTe owing to GaSb doping, which is contributed to operation speed. Furthermore, as short as 20 ns electrical pulse can achieve Reset operation. The pulse width of 200 ns requires only a Reset voltage of 1.5 V, which is much lower than that of GeTe-based cells.

Investigation of (SiC)0.85-Sb3Te alloy for high-reliability PCM applications

The reliability and operation speed have long been two great obstacles in phase change memory technology. Thus (SiC)0.85-Sb3Te alloy was proposed to be a new-type phase change material due to its high crystallization temperature (199.7°C) and good data retention ability (118.9°C for 10-year archival life) in this work. The stress accompanying the phase transition in (SiC)0.85-Sb3Te is smaller than those in pure Sb3Te and the traditional material, Ge2Sb2Te5. This is attributed to the fine crystal grain size due to SiC doping, which contributes to the ultrafast reversible operation (5 ns) and good endurance (2.3 × 104 cycles) of (SiC)0.85-Sb3Te based phase change memory cells.

Reactive ion etching effects on carbon-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 phase change material in CF4/Ar plasma

Recently, carbon-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 (CGST) has been proved to be a high promising material for future phase change memory technology. In this article, reactive ion etching (RIE) of phase change material CGST films is studied using CF4/Ar gas mixture. The effects on gas-mixing ratio, RF power, gas pressure on the etch rate, etch profile and roughness of the CGST film are investigated. Conventional phase change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) films are simultaneously studied for comparison. Compared with GST film, 10 % more CF4 is needed for high etch rate and 10% less CF4 for good anisotropy of CGST due to more fluorocarbon polymer deposition during CF4 etching. The trends of etch rates and roughness of CGST with varying RF power and chamber pressure are similar with those of GST. Furthermore, the etch rate of CGST are more easily to be saturated when higher RF power is applied.