journal article·2019-06-11Open access

Chemical Design Principles for Cache-Type Sc–Sb–Te Phase-Change Memory Materials

Getasew M. Zewdie, Yuxing Zhou, Liang Sun, Feng Rao, Volker L. Deringer, Riccardo Mazzarello, Wei Zhang

Chemistry of Materials· Volume 31· Issue 11

Abstract

Enhanced crystal nucleation in a Sc-Sb-Te phase-change material has enabled subnanosecond switching in phase-change memory devices, making cache-type nonvolatile memory feasible. However, the microscopic mechanisms remain to be further explored. In this work, we present a systematic ab initio study of the relevant parent compounds, namely, Sc2Te3 and Sb2Te3. Despite similar bond lengths and angles in the amorphous phases of the two compounds, Sc2Te3 displays a much more ordered amorphous network without homopolar bonds. As a result, the local structural order in amorphous Sc2Te3 is dominated by square motifs, remarkably similar to those of the metastable rocksalt-like phase. Chemical bonding analysis indicates more robust Sc-Te bonds compared with Sb-Te bonds in the amorphous phase, as well as a substantial role of electrostatic interactions in Sc2Te3 but not in Sb2Te3. The robustness of Sc-Te bonds explains the enhanced nucleation in Sc-Sb-Te compounds. Finally, we discuss an alloying strategy of Sc2Te3 and Sb2Te3 for cache-type Sc-Sb-Te-based phase-change memory.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Phase-change materials and chalcogenides · Chalcogenide Semiconductor Thin Films · Transition Metal Oxide Nanomaterials

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Center for Advancing Materials Performance from the Nanoscale, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

Key Laboratory of Materials Processing Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an Shiyou University, Xi’an 710065, China

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China

Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, U.K.

Institute for Theoretical Solid-State Physics, JARA-FIT and JARA-HPC, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52056, Germany

Funding

State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs · Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China · Isaac Newton Trust · Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft · China Scholarship Council · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Science and Technology Department of Jiangsu Province · Science and Technology Foundation of Shenzhen · Guangdong Province · International Joint Laboratory for Micro/Nano Manufacturing and Measurement Technologies, Xi?an Jiaotong University

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