Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme

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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 12: Postersession DS

DS 12.50: Poster

Monday, March 7, 2016, 17:00–19:00, Poster A

Impact of disorder on properties of phase change materials — •Felix vom Bruch, Strefan Jakobs, and Matthias Wuttig — I. Physikalisches Institut (IA), RWTH Aachen University,52056 Aachen, Germany

Phase change materials (PCM) combine unique physical properties. They develop a high optical and electrical contrast between their amorphous and crystalline phase. Moreover switching between both states occurs on a nanosecond timescale. The pronounced optical contrast is related to a change in bonding mechanism upon crystallization. The amorphous phase is governed by conventional covalent bonds whereas the crystalline phase is characterized by the formation of resonant bonds [1]. Moreover, in many PCM chemical disorder on the cation sublattice strongly affects electrical properties [2]. Annealing of the material leads to a subsequent reduction of this disorder and finally to a phase transformation. Here we explore the impact of structural and stoichiometric disorder on the properties of phase-change thin films. The samples are deposited using sputter deposition and are subsequently characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, van-der-Pauw measurements and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

[1] Shportko, K., et al. Resonant bonding in crystalline phase change materials. Nature Materials (2008) 653-658.

[2] Siegrist, T., et al. Disorder-induced localization in crystalline phase-change materials. Nature Materials (2011) 202-208.