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MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik

MM 23: Poster session

MM 23.47: Poster

Dienstag, 26. Februar 2008, 14:45–18:00, Poster B

Structural Properties of the Metastable State of Phase Change Materials Investigated by Synchrotron Radiation — •Philipp Merkelbach¹, Julia van Eijk¹, Carolin Braun², and Matthias Wuttig¹ — ¹I. Phys. Institut (IA), RWTH Aachen, 52056 Aachen — ²Institut für Anorg. Chemie, CAU Kiel, 24098 Kiel

Phase change alloys are among the most promising materials for novel data storage devices. Since several years Phase Change Materials based on Ge-Sb-Te- alloys have been used in optical data storage solutions like rewriteable CDs and DVDs. Recently these alloys have been explored as potential candidates for fast nonvolatile electrical data storage devices in Phase Change Random Access Memory (PCRAM).

Besides attracting considerable interest from the commercial point of view phase change materials are very interesting also due to their remarkable physical properties. They have the ability to be reversibly switched within a few nanoseconds between the amorphous and the crystalline phase, while changing their physical properties such as optical reflectivity and electrical resistivity significantly. Even though the electronic properties show a drastical contrast such fast transitions can only be caused by small atomic rearrangements. This behavior calls for a deeper understanding of the structural properties of the alloys.

We have performed powder diffraction measurements of the crystal phase of various GeSbTe alloys, to determine the structural similarities and differences of several alloys. Understanding the crystal structure of phase change materials is a key to a deeper insight into the properties of these promising materials.