Abstract
Chalcogenide GeSbTe (GST) alloys are exploited as phase change materials in a variety of applications ranging from electronic non-volatile memories to neuromorphic and photonic devices. In most applications, the prototypical GeSbTe compound along the GeTe-SbTe pseudobinary line is used. Ge-rich GST alloys, off the pseudobinary tie-line with a crystallization temperature higher than that of GeSbTe, are currently explored for embedded phase-change memories of interest for automotive applications. During crystallization, Ge-rich GST alloys undergo a phase separation into pure Ge and less Ge-rich alloys. The detailed mechanisms underlying this transformation are, however, largely unknown. In this work, we performed high-throughput calculations based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) to uncover the most favorable decomposition pathways of Ge-rich GST alloys. The knowledge of the DFT formation energy of all GST alloys in the central part of the Ge-Sb-Te ternary phase diagram allowed us to identify the cubic crystalline phases that are more likely to form during the crystallization of a generic GST alloy. This scheme is exemplified by drawing a decomposition map for alloys on the Ge-GeSbTe tie-line. A map of decomposition propensity is also constructed, which suggests a possible strategy to minimize phase separation by still keeping a high crystallization temperature.
Highlights
GeSbTe (GST) phase change alloys have been deeply investigated over the last two decades for a wide range of applications ranging from non-volatile electronic memories [1,2,3,4] to neuromorphic computing [5,6], optical disks [7]and several other optical devices [8,9]
We remind that the free energy is obtained from the total energy at zero temperature plus the configurational free energy at 300 K due to disorder averaged over three special quasi-random structures (SQS) models for each composition
The analysis of the decomposition pathways suggests that the crystallization of Ge-rich alloys could lead to the formation of less Ge-rich cubic crystals with different compositions
Summary
GeSbTe (GST) phase change alloys have been deeply investigated over the last two decades for a wide range of applications ranging from non-volatile electronic memories (phase change memories, PCMs) [1,2,3,4] to neuromorphic computing [5,6], optical disks [7]. The decomposition process is highly non trivial because, during the operation of the memory, the amorphous phase is supposed to crystallize into metastable cubic phases due to kinetic hindrances, as occurs for GST225, and not necessarily into the thermodynamically stable compounds, which encompass only the unary elements and the pseudobinary compounds along the GeTe-Sb2 Te3 and Sb-Sb2 Te3 tie-lines (including the end points) on the Ge-Sb-Te ternary phase diagram. For all GST cubic alloys in the central part of the ternary phase diagram, we obtained the distance of their free energy from the convex hull which gives a measure of the metastability of the alloy These data allowed us to compute the reaction free energy for the decomposition of Ge-rich GST alloys into the crystalline Ge (and eventually Sb and Te), a less Ge-rich alloy, and the GeTe and Sb2 Te3 binary compounds. It turns out that several decomposition channels compete, which can lead to the formation of a nanocomposite of crystalline grains with different compositions
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