Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme
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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik
HL 61: Poster II: Materials, Interfaces and Heterostructures
HL 61.1: Poster
Thursday, March 25, 2010, 18:00–20:00, Poster D1
Phase Change RAM: Non-volatile switching at DRAM speeds — •Philipp Merkelbach1, Gunanr Bruns1, Carl Schlockermann1, Martin Salinga1, Matthias Wuttig1, Thomas Happ2, Jan Boris Philipp3, and Michael Kund3 — 1I. Physikalisches Institut (IA), RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany — 2Qimonda Dresden GmbH & Co. OHG, Königsbrücker Strasse 180, 01099 Dresden, Germany — 3Qimonda AG, Bibergerstr. 93, 82008 Unterhaching, Germany
Phase Change Materials are promising candidates for novel data storage. Known from rewritable optical media like CD-RW and DVD-RW they possess a unique combination of properties: the ability to be switched within nanoseconds between the amorphous and the crystalline phase and a large optical and electrical contrast between both phases. Yet the physical driving mechanism of this transition is not fully understood.
Regarding their crystallization behavior phase change materials can be divided into two different classes, i.e. growth and nucleation dominated. Previously this classification has been established by laser induced crystallization, where the smallest diameter was approximately 1 µm. Now experiments are presented where the bit size is as small as 60 nm. A clear trend of higher switching speeds with smaller amorphous region was observed. This finding is attributed to the increasing impact of crystal growth upon decreasing switchable volume. Using GeTe or materials with similar crystal growth velocities, hence promises nonvolatile phase change memories with DRAM like switching speeds.