Information reliability evaluation of a Ge2Sb2Te5-based phase change memory cell

The information reliability of phase change memory cells at different ambient temperatures has been assessed for the first time. The statistical approach chosen is based on A.N. Kolmogorov’s heuristic theory, which describes the kinetics of isothermal crystallization. We have analyzed the influence of the phase change memory cell size and critical size of crystalline nuclei, which depends on the physicochemical parameters of the material and temperature. The results demonstrate that the information reliability of phase change memory cells of typical dimensions can be sufficiently high up to 100°C. Calculation results are compared to available experimental data.     

Size-dependent surface-induced heterogeneous nucleation driven phase-change in Ge2Sb2Te5 nanowires

By combining electron microscopy and size-dependent electrical measurements, we demonstrate surface-induced heterogeneous nucleation-dominant mechanism for recrystallization of amorphous phase-change Ge2Sb2Te5 nanowires. Heterogeneous nucleation theory quantitatively predicts the nucleation rates that vary by 5 orders of magnitude from 190 to 20 nm lengthscales. Our work demonstrates that increasing the surface-to-volume ratio of nanowires has two effects: lowering of the activation energy barrier due to phonon instability and providing nucleation sites for recrystallization. The systematic study of the effect of surface in phase-change behavior is critical for understanding nanoscale phase-transitions and design of nonvolatile memory devices.     

基于Sn掺杂Ge2Sb2Te5的相变存储器器件单元存储性能

采用0.18μm标准工艺制备出基于Sn掺杂Ge2Sb2Te5相变材料的相变存储器器件单元,利用自行设计搭建的电学测试系统研究了其存储性能.结果表明:Sn的掺杂没有改变Ge2Sb2Te5的相变特性,其相变阚值电压和阈值电流分别为1.6V和25μA;实现了器件单元的非晶态(高阻)与晶态(低阻)之间的可逆相变过程;器件单元中相变材料结晶所需电流最低为1.78mA(电流宽度固定为100ns)、结晶时间大于80ns(电流高度固定为3mA);相变材料非晶化脉冲电流宽度为30ns时,所需电流大于3.3mA;与Ge2Sb2Te5相比,Sn的掺杂降低了SET操作的脉冲电流宽度,提高了结晶速度,有利于提高相变存储器的存储速度.     

Electrical, optical, and thermal properties of Sn-doped phase change material Ge2Sb2Te5

In this article, effect of Sn on the electrical, optical, and thermal properties of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ is studied. Ge₂Sb₂Te₅, Ge_1.55Sb₂Te₅Sn_0.45, and Ge_1.1Sb₂Te₅Sn_0.9 alloys are prepared by melt quenching technique and their thin films are prepared by thermal evaporation on glass substrates. These materials are then characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, optical method, and impedance measurements. Doping with Sn maintains the NaCl-type crystalline structure of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅. Activation energy (E _a) for crystallization is calculated by Kissinger’s method. E _a decreases slightly from 2.56 eV for Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ to 2.24 eV for Ge_1.1Sb₂Te₅Sn_0.9. The distinct change in extinction coefficient (k) of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ and Sn-doped amorphous films is found in the visible region. A large increase in optical contrast (C) is observed in the Sn-doped phase change materials. The phase change transition is studied using impedance measurements as a function of temperature. Impedance measurements show the appearance of nucleation centers in samples heated at temperatures below crystallization temperature (T _c) and above glass transition temperature (T _g).     

Synthesis of silicon carbide nanowires by solid phase source chemical vapor deposition

In this paper, we report a simple approach to synthesize silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires by solid phase source chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at relatively low temperatures. 3C-SiC nanowires covered by an amorphous shell were obtained on a thin film which was first deposited on silicon substrates, and the nanowires are 20–80 nm in diameter and several μm in length, with a growth direction of [200]. The growth of the nanowires agrees well on vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process and the film deposited on the substrates plays an important role in the formation of nanowires.     

Growth of InAs quantum dots on GaAs nanowires by metal organic chemical vapor deposition

InAs quantum dots (QDs) are grown epitaxially on Au-catalyst-grown GaAs nanowires (NWs) by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). These QDs are about 10-30 nm in diameter and several nanometers high, formed on the {112} side facets of the GaAs NWs. The QDs are very dense at the base of the NW and gradually sparser toward the top until disappearing at a distance of about 2 μm from the base. It can be concluded that these QDs are formed by adatom diffusion from the substrate as well as the sidewalls of the NWs. The critical diameter of the GaAs NW that is enough to form InAs QDs is between 120 and 160 nm according to incomplete statistics. We also find that these QDs exhibit zinc blende (ZB) structure that is consistent with that of the GaAs NW and their edges are faceted along particular surfaces. This hybrid structure may pave the way for the development of future nanowire-based optoelectronic devices.     

爆炸辅助气相沉积法制备炭纳米线的研究

根据爆炸辅助气相沉积法生长碳纳米管的机理,设计了两种制备炭纳米线的方案:(1)使用低活性铁-镍二元金属催化剂;(2)对钴催化剂作用下碳纳米管的生长实施冷冻。透射电子显微镜显示这两种方法制备的炭纳米线均为纳米颗粒组装而成,具有非常粗糙的表面。其中,使用铁-镍二元催化剂所制炭纳米线直径分布不均匀,黏结情况严重;而在冷冻钴催化剂作用下炭纳米管生长过程所得的炭纳米线直径分布比较均匀,黏结情况也大为减少。这两种纳米线的差别与金属催化剂的活性有关。光催化降解亚甲基蓝实验表明:冷冻碳纳米管生长所得炭纳米线具有良好的催化辅助功能,可以提高ZnS纳米晶的光催化活性。     

Metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) of oxides and ferroelectric materials

The electrical properties of thin-film oxides span a tremendous range from insulating to superconducting. As a consequence, they are now finding an increasing number of applications in electronics and opto-electronics, both as stand-alone layers and for the provision of added functionality to electronic circuits, especially silicon. The modified precursor delivery technologies (e.g. aerosol or liquid delivery or injection techniques) coupled with improved precursors, and better engineering of the deposition kit, have transformed the prospects for the deposition of these materials by MOCVD. It is now possible to exploit the many traditional advantages of MOCVD, especially over other routes to thin-film oxide deposition. A wide range of oxides and particularly complex ferroelectric oxides are being produced on substrates of up to 200 mm in diameter. This paper highlights the progress and real advantages that MOCVD has for thin-film oxide deposition, including the design of improved precursors. Examples of the deposition of dielectric layers and lead-based ferroelectric layers for uncooled thermal imaging, and MEMS actuation applications are presented.     

Polycrystalline Si1-x Ge x thin film deposition by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition

Polycrystalline silicon germanium (poly-Si_1−xGe_x) thin films on a-Si film have been deposited by rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RTCVD) with SiH₄–GeH₄–H₂. Effect of GeH₄/SiH₄ and deposition temperature on stoichiometry (x), Si-Ge binding character, composition, hydrogen configuration, crystallinity, preferred orientation, grain size, and surface roughness of poly-Si_1−xGe_x films has been investigated. Poly-Si_1−xGe_x deposited on the substrate with amorphous silicon buffer layer on oxide shows better crystallinity and contains the less amount of oxygen than the one deposited directly on the oxide surface. At low temperature region, the Ge–H bond with the small amount of Si–H₂ bond is dominant but all hydrogen bonds are desorbed at high temperature. All films have polycrystalline phase and the grain size and (111) orientation increased with increasing deposition temperature in which Ge content also increases at the fixed gas flow rate of GeH₄ to total source gas. Poly-Si_1−xGe_x/Si thin film transistors (TFT) are fabricated and hydrogen during post-hydrogenation process preferentially is attached to Ge dangling bond and the TFT characteristics could be improved.     

Metal organic chemical vapour deposition of vertically aligned ZnO nanowires using oxygen donor adducts

Vertically aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) have been grown by liquid injection Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition, using oxygen donor adducts of Me2Zn. The growth and characterisation of the nanowires grown using [Me2Zn(L)] where L = monodentate ethers, tetrahydrofuran (C4H8O) (1), tetrahydropyran (C5H10O) (2), furan (C4H4O) (3) and the bidentate ethers, 1,2-dimethoxyethane (C4H12O2,) (4) 1,4-dioxane (C4H8O2) (5) and 1,4-thioxane (C4H8SO) (6) is discussed. Single crystal X-ray structures of (4), (5), (6) have been established and are included here. The ZnO NWs were deposited in the absence of a seed catalyst on Si(111) and F-doped SnO2/glass substrates over the temperature range 350-600 degrees C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) data shows that the nanowires grown from all adduct precursors were deposited in the wurtzitic phase.     

Synthesis of indium-catalyzed Si nanowires by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition

Indium (In) catalyzed silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were synthesized by using hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) technique. Indium droplets were deposited on Si substrates by hot-wire evaporation of In wire, which was immediately followed by the growth of SiNWs from the droplets. Three sets of samples were prepared by varying the length of In wires, l, as 3, 1 and 0.5 mm. The sizes of In catalyst droplets decreased from 271.4 ± 66.8 to 67.4 ± 16.6 nm when the l was reduced from 3 to 0.5 mm. Larger size of In droplets (271.4 ± 66.8 nm) was found to induce the growth of worm-like NWs. The decrease in size of In catalyst droplets induced the formation of aligned and tapered NWs with smaller tips. The smallest value of tapering parameter, T_p of 40.5 nm/μm is correlated to the SiNWs induced by the smallest size of In droplets (67.4 ± 16.6 nm). The as-grown SiNWs showed high purity and good crystalline structure.     

SiO2 doped Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films with high thermal efficiency for applications in phase change random access memory

This study examined the various physical, structural and electrical properties of SiO(2) doped Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) (SGST) films for phase change random access memory applications. Interestingly, SGST had a layered structure (LS) resulting from the inhomogeneous distribution of SiO(2) after annealing. The physical parameters able to affect the reset current of phase change memory (I(res)) were predicted from the Joule heating and heat conservation equations. When SiO(2) was doped into GST, thermal conductivity largely decreased by ～ 55%. The influence of SiO(2)-doping on I(res) was examined using the test phase change memory cell. I(res) was reduced by ～ 45%. An electro-thermal simulation showed that the reduced thermal conductivity contributes to the improvement of cell efficiency as well as the reduction of I(res), while the increased dynamic resistance contributes only to the latter. The formation and presence of the LS thermal conductivity in the set state test cell after repeated switching was confirmed.     

Metal organic chemical vapor deposition and investigation of ZnO thin films grown on sapphire

A new type of large area metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system for the growth of high quality and large size ZnO materials is introduced. Materials properties of the un-doped, n- and p-doped ZnO epi-films grown on sapphire substrates by this MOCVD system are studied by various techniques, including high resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Visible optical transmission (OT), photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE), synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-XPS). The wurtzite (w) ZnO crystal structures grown with primary (0002) orientation were identified. Results have shown the high crystalline quality of MOCVD-grown ZnO films, indicated by the narrow XRD, PL and Raman line widths, strong PL signals, sharp OT edge and smooth surface. In particular, high p-type carrier concentration of > 10¹⁷ cm^− 3 have been achieved besides the good n-type doping in ZnO.     

Amorphous structure melt-quenched from defective Ge2Sb2Te5

Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) is a technologically important phase-change material for data storage, where the fast reversible phase transition between crystalline and amorphous states is used for recording information. The encoding is achieved by the large contrast in physical properties between the two states. Ge vacancies (V_Ge) and Sb antisite atoms (Sb_Te) are primary point defects in crystalline GST. The effect of V_Ge and Sb_Te on the atomic arrangements in amorphous GST is unknown, which, however, has significant effects on the performance of GST. In this work, by means of ab initio molecular dynamics calculations, the atomic arrangements in amorphous ideal and defective GST have been investigated. The results show that the amorphous structure of GST with Sb_Te (St-GST) or with V_Ge (V-GST) has the same cubic framework and close chemical ordering to ideal GST, and hence similar fast reversible phase transition behavior is expected in the defective phases. Furthermore, the presence of Sb_Te or V_Ge in the crystalline phase will result in much more Ge atoms in a tetrahedral geometry as well as in a fourfold octahedral environment in the amorphous state. Especially in V-GST, around 36 % Ge atoms occupy a fourfold octahedral geometry. As fourfold octahedral Ge atoms can enhance the large contrast in physical properties between the crystalline and amorphous phases, introducing Ge vacancies would be an efficient way to improve the performance of GST phase-change materials.     

One-step growth of curled GaN nanowires using chemical vapor deposition method

The studies of curled GaN nanowires grown on sapphire and silicon substrate using chemical vapor deposition method have been reported in this article. The mean diameters of the nanowires grown on sapphire and silicon were 108.1 nm and 98 nm respectively. A growth model was proposed to describe the growth of nanowires. X-ray diffraction pattern and Raman spectroscopy revealed that the nanowires were hexagonal wurtzite in structure. Gaussian fitting was done on photoluminescence spectra, which revealed two sub-bands that could be attributed to band emission and surface disorder caused by impurities. The absence of yellow luminescence signified undoped case and minimal shallow level defects.     

Controlled growth of ternary alloy nanowires using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

We report the growth and characterization of ternary AlxGa1- xAs nanowires by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition as a function of temperature and V/III ratio. Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy show that, at high temperatures and high V/III ratios, the nanowires form a core-shell structure with higher Al composition in the nanowire core than in the shell. We develop a growth model that takes into account diffusion of reactants and decomposition rates at the nanowire catalyst and stem to describe the compositional difference and the shell growth rate. Utilizing this model, we have successfully grown compositionally uniform Al0.16Ga0.84As nanowires. The ability to rationally tune the composition of ternary alloy nanowires broadens the application range of nanowires by enabling more complex nanowire heterostructures.     

The Mechanism of the Amorphous-to-Crystalline Transition in Ge2Sb2Te5 Ternary Alloys1

The kinetics of the amorphous-to-crystalline phase transformation in alloys with compositions around Ge₂Sb₂Te₅, used as erasable optical memories, was investigated by electric impedance, Raman spectroscopy, and optical and transmission electron microscopy. To induce the transformation, isothermal and isokinetic experiments were carried out at various temperatures and various heating rates. The results obtained agree with the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami model and show that the overall activation energy for the transition is about 8 eV, which exceeds previous estimations. The nucleation process changes during the transition and depends on both temperature and heating rate. The available data indicate that nuclei are formed both in the bulk and at the surface of crystallites, and that the structural details of the material (the crystallite size, in particular) depend greatly on the transformation conditions. Intercrystalline inclusions, which appear after the transition, contain Te precipitates within a structurally disordered phase. These inclusions have electrical and optical properties essentially different as compared to the rest of the sample; they could be residual phases formed due to the nonstoichiometric nature of the samples.     

Broadband photodetector of high quality Sb2S3 nanowire grown by chemical vapor deposition

Low dimensional semiconductors can be used for various electronic and optoelectronic devices because of their unique structure and property.In this work,one-dimensional Sb2S3 nanowires(NWs)with high crystallinity were grown via chemical vapor deposition(CVD)technique on SiO2/Si substrates.The Sb2S 3 NWs exhibited needle-like structures with inclined cross-sections.The lengths of Sb2S3 nanowires changed from 7 to 13 pm.The photodetection properties of Sb2S3 nanowires were comprehensively and systematically characterized.The Sb2S3 photodetectors show a broadband photoresponse ranging from ultraviolet(360 nm)to near-infrared(785 nm).An excellent specific detectivity of 2.1×1014 Jones,high external quantum efficiency of 1.5×104％,sensitivity of 2.2×104 cm2W-1 and short response time of less than 100 ms was achieved for the Sb2S3 NW photodetectors.Moreover,the Sb2S3 NWs showed out-standing switch cycling stability that was beneficial to the practical applications.The high-quality Sb2S3 nanowires fabricated by CVD have great application potential in semiconductor and optoelectronic fields.     

Synthesis of vertically oriented GaN nanowires on a LiAlO2 substrate via chemical vapor deposition

Vertically oriented nanowires (NWs) of single-crystalline wurtzite GaN have been fabricated on γ-LiAlO₂ (100) substrate coated with a Au layer, via a chemical vapor deposition process at 1000 °C using gallium and ammonia as source materials. The GaN NWs grow along the nonpolar [100] direction with steeply tapering tips, and have triangular cross-sections with widths of 50–100 nm and lengths of up to several microns. The GaN NWs are formed by a vapor-liquid-solid growth mechanism and the tapering tips are attributed to the temperature decrease in the final stage of the synthesis process. The aligned GaN NWs show blue-yellow emission originating from defect levels, residual impurities or surface states of the GaN NWs, and have potential applications in nanotechnology.     

Study of Ge2Sb2Te5 Film for Nonvolatile Memory Medium

The amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 film with stoichiometric compositions was deposited by co-sputtering of separate Ge, Sb, and Te targets on SiO2/Si (100) wafer in ultrahigh vacuum magnetron sputtering apparatus. The crystallization behavior of amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 film was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). With an increase of annealing temperature, the amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 film undergoes a two-step crystallization process that it first crystallizes in face-centered-cubic (fcc) crystal structure and finally fcc structure changes to hexagonal (hex) structure. Activation energy values of 3.636±0.137 and 1.579±0.005 eV correspond to the crystallization and structural transformation processes, respectively. From annealing temperature dependence of the film resistivity, it is determined that the first steep decrease of the resistivity corresponds to crystallization while the second one is primarily caused by structural transformation from