Simultaneously high thermal stability and low power based on Cu-doped GeTe phase change material

Abstract

The Cu-doped GeTe material was investigated systematically for its potential application in phase change memory. Compared with GeTe, Ge40Cu20Te40 material had higher crystallization temperature (258 °C) and activation energy for crystallization (3.78 eV). After Cu adding, the band gap energy increased and the crystallization was restrained. A smoother surface for Ge40Cu20Te40 material was achieved due to smaller grain size. The phase change memory device based on Ge40Cu20Te40 material could have electrical switching with the RESET voltage of 2.65 V and pulse width 5 ns. The good thermal stability and low power demonstrated the promising application for Ge-Cu-Te material in phase change memory.