Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 32: Metal and Amorphous Layers

DS 32.3: Talk

Thursday, February 28, 2008, 13:45–14:00, H 2032

Crystallization kinetics of phase change materials — •Michael Klein, Tobias Sontheimer, and Matthias Wuttig — I. Physikalisches Institut (1A), RWTH Aachen, 52056 Aachen, Germany

Phase change materials are fascinating materials. They can be rapidly switched between two metastable states, the amorphous and crystalline phase, which show pronounced contrast in their optical and electrical properties. They are already widely used as the active layer in rewritable optical media and are expected to be used in the upcoming phase change random access memory (PRAM).

Here we show measurements of the crystallization kinetics of chalcogenide materials that lead to a deeper understanding of these processes. This work focuses mainly on the Ge-Sb-Te system but also includes Ag-In-Te materials.

The crystallization behaviour of these materials was investigated with an ex-situ annealing method employing the precise oven of a differential scanning calorimeter and imaging techniques employing atomic force microscopy and optical microscopy.