Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik

MM 33: Phase Transitions I

MM 33.1: Talk

Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 14:45–15:00, IFW B

Stoichiometrical trends in differential scanning calorimetry measurements on phase-change materials — •Michael Klein, Malte Linn, and Matthias Wuttig — I. Physikalisches Institut (IA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

Phase-change materials are alloys which can be rapidly switched between two metastable states, the amorphous and the crystalline phase. At the same time they show pronounced contrast in their electrical and optical properties. They are widely used as the functional layer in rewritable optical discs. Prototypes of electrical devices employing phase change materials as non-volatile memory are already entering the market.

Here we present calorimetric measurements, mainly on ternary Ge-Sb-Te alloys. Scratched-off thin film samples were heated in a differential scanning calorimeter to measure the transition from as-deposited amorphous to metastable crystalline phase and finally to the stable crystalline phase. The different transition temperatures will be analysed as a function of stoichiometry in order to improve the understanding of their interconnection.