Reversible chemical phase separation in on-state of art ReWritable (RW) Ge2Sb2Te5 optical phase change memories

Abstract Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 is one of the chalcogenide alloy materials of choice for ReWritable (RW) optical discs that are currently in manufacturing; however, there are many issues relating to the physics and chemistry underpinning the switching mechanism that have as yet to be resolved. This is paper identifies important relationships between the chemical bonding in the non-crystalline phase of Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 , and in the face-centered-cubic (FCC) nano-crystalline alloy phase that account for the markedly different optical and electrical properties that are enabling for memory applications. The non-crystalline material is characterized as an intermediate phase (IP) with minimal (i) bond-strain and (ii) extended macroscopic-strain, and includes a precursor bonding arrangement crucial to optical and electronic RW memories. The FCC phase has nano-crystallites trapped in a metastable diphasic composite that is stabilized by the inclusion of non-crystalline GeTe x ( x ∼ 5) nano-clusters pinned at grain boundaries.