Ren Kun

Si3.5Sb2Te3 Phase Change Material for Low-Power Phase Change Memory Application

Novel Si3.5Sb2Te3 phase change material for phase change memory is prepared by sputtering of Si and Sb2Te3 alloy targets. Crystalline Si3.5Sb2Te3 is a stable composite material consisting of amorphous Si and crystalline Sb2Te3, without separated Te phase. The thermally stable Si3.5Sb2Te3 material has data retention ability (10 years at 412K) better than that of the Ge2Sb2Te5 material (10 years at 383 K). Phase change memory device based on Si3.5Sb2Te3 is successfully fabricated, showing low power consumption. Up to 2.2 × 107 cycles of endurance have been achieved with a resistance ratio lager than 300.

Thermal effect of Ge2Sb2Te5 in phase change memory device

In the fabrication of phase change random access memory (PRAM) devices, high temperature thermal processes are inevitable. We investigate the thermal stability of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) which is a prototypical phase change material. After high temperature process, voids of phase change material exist at the interface between Ge2Sb2Te5 and substrate in the initial open memory cell. This lower region of Ge2Sb2Te5 is found to be a Te-rich phase change layer. Phase change memory devices are fabricated in different process conditions and examined by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray. It is found that hot-chuck process, nitrogen-doping process, and lower temperature inter-metal dielectric (IMD) deposition process can ease the thermal impact of line-GST PRAM cell.

Negative Refraction and Imaging in a Triangular-Lattice Metallic Photonic-Crystal Slab

Imaging properties of a two-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) slab consisting of a triangular lattice of metallic cylinders immersed in a dielectric background are investigated by the finite-difference time-domain technique. With the calculated field patterns of a point source placed in the vicinity of the PC slab and the corresponding equifrequency-surface contours, we find that a high-quality image can form in the opposite side of the slab in the lowest TM-polarized photonic band, and this near-field image is formed mainly by the self-collimation effect.

From octahedral structure motif to sub-nanosecond phase transitions in phase change materials for data storage

Phase change random access memory (PCRAM) has been successfully applied in the computer storage architecture, as storage class memory, to bridge the performance gap between DRAM and Flashbased solid-state drive due to its good scalability, 3D-integration ability, fast operation speed and compatible with CMOS technology. Focusing on phase change materials and PCRAM for decades, we have successfully developed 128 Mb embedded PCRAM chips, which can meet the requirements of most embedded systems. 3D Xpoint (3D PCRAM), invented by Intel and Micron, has been regarded as a new breakthrough in the last 25 years since the application of NAND in 1989, which represents state-of-the-art memory technology. This technology has some remarkable features, such as the confined device structure with 20 nm size, the metal crossbar electrodes to reduce the resistance variations in PCRAM arrays, and the ovonic threshold switching selector that can provide a high drive current and a low leakage current. A good understanding of phase change mechanism is of great help to design new phase change materials with fast operation speed, low power consumption and long-lifetime. In this paper, we firstly review the development of PCRAM and different understandings on phase change mechanisms in recent years, and then propose a new view on the mechanism, which is based on the octahedral structure motifs and vacancies. Octahedral structure motifs are generally found in both amorphous and crystalline phase change materials. They are considered to be the basic units during phase transition, which are severely defective in the amorphous phase. These configurations turn into more ordered ones after minor local rearrangements, the growth of which results in the crystallization of rocksalt (RS) phase with a large amount of vacancies in the cation sites. Further driven by thermodynamic driving force, these vacancies move and layer along certain directions; consequently, the metastable RS structure transforms into the stable hexagonal (HEX) structure. Based on our results, we find that reversible phase transition between amorphous phase and RS phase, without further changing into HEX phase, would greatly decrease the required power consumption. Robust octahedra and plenty of vacancies in both amorphous and RS phase, respectively avoiding large atomic rearrangement and providing necessary space, are crucial to achieve the nanosecond or even sub-nanosecond operation of PCRAM.

An Improvement of the Thermal Stability of SnTe through Nitrogen Doping

Nitrogen doping is applied to improve the thermal stability of SnTe. The crystallization temperature Tc of SnTe is below room temperature, which can be elevated to 216°C by 7.65at.% nitrogen doping. Nitrogen doping results in the formation of SnNx in the nitrogen doped SnTe (N-SnTe) materials, which hinders the movement of atoms and suppresses the crystallization, leading to a better thermal stability. The crystallization activation energy (Ea) and data retention for ten years of 7.65at.% N-SnTe are 1.89eV and 81°C, respectively. Moreover, the voltage pulses have successfully triggered the SET and RESET operations of the N-SnTe based device at the voltage of 0.9 V and 2.6 V. The good thermal stability and reversible phase-change ability have proved the potential of N-SnTe for phase-change memory application.

Negative refraction in two-dimensional photonic crystals

Abstract Recent progress made in research on negative refraction in two-dimensional photonic crystals is reviewed. Special attentions are paid to the research results of our group. We explore the underlying mechanism governing the occurrence of negative refraction in periodic and quasiperiodic photonic crystals. These results may be useful references for the application of photonic crsytals. The perspectives of future research on negative refraction are briefly predicted. * Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant NO. 10404036) and the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2001CB610405, 2001CB610402 and 2004CB719804)

Near-field imaging of a square-lattice metallic photonic-crystal slab at the second band

Imaging properties of a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab lens are investigated through the finite-difference time-domain method. In this paper, we consider the photonic crystal slab consisting of a square lattice of square metallic rods immersed in a dielectric background. Through the analysis of the equifrequency-surface contours and the field patterns of a point source placed in the vicinity of the photonic crystal slab, we find that a good-quality image can form at the frequencies in the second TM-polarized photonic band. Comparing the images formed at different frequencies, we can clearly see that an excellent-quality image is formed by the mechanisms of simultaneous action of the self-collimation effect and the negative-refraction effect.

Complete Band-Gap in Two-Dimensional Quasiperiod Photonic Crystals with Hollow Cylinders

The transmission properties of quasiperiodic photonic crystals (QPCs) based on the random square-triangle tiling system are investigated by the multiple scattering method. The hollow cylinders are introduced in our calculation. It is found that QPCs with hollow cylinders also possess a complete band gap common to s- and p-polarized waves when the inner radius of hollow cylinders is larger than a certain value. The QPCs possessing the complete band gap can be applied to the fields of light emitting, wave-guides, optical filters, high-Q resonators and antennas.