Chalcogenide programmable switches with SiGeSb heating layers

Abstract This work reports on the switching behavior of chalcogenide programmable switches employing SiGeSb alloys as resistive heating layers. The sputter-deposited SiGeSb layers, prepared to contact with GeSbTe chalcogenide alloys in an indirect heating structure, induced temperature rise and phase transition in the GeSbTe alloys. While the electrical resistance of the SiGeSb layers decreased with increasing annealing temperature, it became saturated at the antimony concentration in the SiGeSb layers higher than 28 atomic percent. The fabricated switch devices exhibited on–off switch characteristic between high resistive and low resistive states, and their switching behavior was remarkably influenced by the SiGeSb heater resistance depending on the annealing temperature and the amount of antimony atoms.