Improved thermal stability of Sb materials by SiO2 doping for ultra-fast phase change memory application

Abstract

SiO2-doped Sb material is proved to be a promising candidate for phase change memory (PCM) use because of its high crystallization temperature (∼239 °C), large crystallization activation energy (4.05 eV), and good data retention ability (162 °C for 10 years). The band gap is broadened and the grain size is refined by SiO2 doping. The reversible resistance transition can be achieved by an electric pulse as short as 5 ns for the PCM cell based on SiO2-doped Sb material. A lower operation power consumption (the energy for RESET operation 1.1 × 10−11 J) is obtained. In addition, SiO2-doped Sb material shows a good endurance of 2.5 × 105 cycles.