Samarium addition-mediated simultaneous achievement of excellent resistance drift and superior thermal stability in phase-change compound antimony-selenium thin film

Abstract

The Sm-doped Sb7Se3 thin films were systematically investigated, including phase change behavior, phase structure, microstructure, and electrical properties. The in-situ resistance test displays that the addition of Sm element leads to a significant increase in the crystallization temperature, decadal data retention and crystallization activation energy, implying better thermal stability. Crystallization kinetic analysis indicates a one-dimensional growth crystallization pattern, exhibiting an ultra-fast crystallization speed. The change in optical bandgap reflects that the exotic Sm atoms enhance the bandgap energy, which facilitates the reduction of the threshold current. Resistance drift test highlights the suppression of structural relaxation by Sm atoms, which would greatly improve the reliability of the information readout. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectra, and transmission electron microscopy demonstrate that the addition of Sm retards the crystallization process and refines the grain size. Energy dispersive spectroscopy shows that the Sm dopant has incorporated into Sb7Se3 thin film. The phase change memory cell based on Sm-doped Sb7Se3 film exhibits faster running speed (100 ns) and lower power consumption (3.0 × 10−11 J) than the conventional Ge2Sb2Te5 material. All the results prove that incorporating appropriate amounts of Sm into Sb7Se3 material is an ideal technique for optimizing resistance drift and thermal stability of Sb7Se3 thin films.