Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme
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MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik
MM 15: Poster Session
MM 15.73: Poster
Monday, March 11, 2013, 18:00–20:00, Poster E
In situ transmission electron microscopy study of the crystallization of bits in Ag4In3Sb67Te26 — •Manuel Bornhöfft1,2, Andreas Kaldenbach3, Matthias Wuttig3, and Joachim Mayer1,2 — 1Central Facility for Electron Microscopy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany — 2Ernst Ruska-Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany — 3I. Physikalisches Institut (IA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
The understanding of crystallization kinetics of phase-change materials is mandatory to develop reliable and fast phase-change data-storage devices, which can surpass actual data-storage technologies. A topic of interest is the role of nucleation and growth in phase-change materials at different conditions.
In this work in situ-methods in a transmission electron microscope are used to observe the crystallization of round amorphous marks (bits) in a crystalline matrix of the phase-change material Ag4In3Sb67Te26. The in situ-methods employed are based on crystallization by in situ-heating and in situ-irradiation by the focused electron beam in the microscope. The bits with 0.6 µm in diameter are produced by laser irradiation of a 30 nm thick crystalline layer of the phase-change material. The phase-change layer is embedded in a 160 nm thick supporting multilayer stack. The supporting layers are amorphous and the phase-change layer is crystallized through ex situ-heating.
The results are compared with experimental observations on Ge2Sb2Te5 and give important insight in the crystallization mechanisms and the underlying thermodynamic processes.