Only the chemical state of Indium changes in Mn-doped In3Sb1Te2 (Mn: 10 at.%) during multi-level resistance changes.

Y M Lee,Y B Qi,J.-Y Kim,M.-H Cho,D K Choi,Y S Kim,M S Jung,D Ahn,M Ahn,M.-C Jung,S Cho

doi:10.1038/srep04702

Abstract

We fabricated and characterized the material with Mn (10 at.%: atomic percent) doped In3Sb1Te2 (MIST) using co-sputtering and synchrotron radiation, respectively. The MIST thin film showed phase-changes at 97 and 320°C, with sheet resistances of ~10 kΩsq (amorphous), ~0.2 kΩsq (first phase-change), and ~10 Ωsq (second phase-change). MIST did not exhibit any chemical separation or increased structural instability during either phase-change, as determined with high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Chemical state changes were only depended for In without concomitant changes of Sb and Te. Apparently, doped Mn atoms can be induced with movement of only In atoms.

Highlights

The chemical state of Indium changes in Mn-doped In3Sb1Te2 (Mn: 10 at.%) during multi-level resistance changes
Phase-change materials have become highly promising for use in rewritable optical media and nonvolatile random access memory devices (PRAM)[1,2,3,4,5]
We investigated structural stability in three chemical states of MIST and found that only In atoms move during phasechanges

Summary

Introduction

The chemical state of Indium changes in Mn-doped In3Sb1Te2 (Mn: 10 at.%) during multi-level resistance changes. Phase-change materials have become highly promising for use in rewritable optical media and nonvolatile random access memory devices (PRAM)[1,2,3,4,5]. These materials manifest extreme changes in both optical reflectivity and electrical resistance during the amorphous-to-crystalline phase-change at 100 , 400uC4,5. IST was shown to transition from amorphous IST (a-IST), InSb, InTe to crystalline IST (c-IST) at different phase transition temperatures[10,11] It demonstrated great promise for use in multi-level optical media and multi-bit memory devices. We investigated structural stability in three chemical states of MIST and found that only In atoms move during phasechanges

Methods

Results

Conclusion