Temperature dependent thermal conductivity and transition mechanism in amorphous and crystalline Sb2Te3 thin films

Qisong Li,Jingsong Wei,Kui Zhang,Hao Sun,Zhengxing Huang,Long Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14068-7

Qisong Li, Jingsong Wei + Show 4 more

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Sb2Te3 thin films are widely used in high density optical and electronic storage, high-resolution greyscale image recording, and laser thermal lithography. Thermal conductivity and its temperature dependence are critical factors that affect the application performance of thin films. This work aims to evaluate the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity of crystalline and amorphous Sb2Te3 thin films experimentally and theoretically, and explores into the corresponding mechanism of heat transport. For crystalline Sb2Te3 thin films, the thermal conductivity was found to be 0.35 ± 0.035 W m−1 K−1 and showed weak temperature dependence. The thermal conductivity of amorphous Sb2Te3 thin films at temperatures below ~450 K is about 0.23 ± 0.023 W m−1K−1, mainly arising from the lattice as the electronic contribution is negligible; at temperatures above 450 K, the thermal conductivity experiences an abrupt increase owing to the structural change from amorphous to crystalline state. The work can provide an important guide and reference to the real applications of Sb2Te3 thin films.

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IntroductionChalcogenide thin film materials are very useful for data storage (including optical storage and phase change random accessible memory)[1,2,3,4,5,6] and laser thermal lithography[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12], where a laser or electric pulse interacts with the chalcogenide thin films and heats them to certain threshold temperature and results in a structural change between crystalline and amorphous states
Chalcogenide thin film materials are very useful for data storage[1,2,3,4,5,6] and laser thermal lithography[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12], where a laser or electric pulse interacts with the chalcogenide thin films and heats them to certain threshold temperature and results in a structural change between crystalline and amorphous states
The thickness of Sb2Te3 thin films is usually changed according to different requirements and the thermal conductivity changes with temperature

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Introduction

Chalcogenide thin film materials are very useful for data storage (including optical storage and phase change random accessible memory)[1,2,3,4,5,6] and laser thermal lithography[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12], where a laser or electric pulse interacts with the chalcogenide thin films and heats them to certain threshold temperature and results in a structural change between crystalline and amorphous states. The chalcogenide phase change materials have been explored new functions, such as optically photonic devices, optical mask layer in reducing the spot and lithographic width[18,19,20,21,22,23], and thermoelectric devices. In the process of thermally-induced structural transformation, the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of basic element of Sb2Te3 in Ge-Sb-Te alloys is one of the critical factors that determine the performances of related devices. Super-resolution and nano-optical information storage[38], and topological insulators[39,40] These applications necessitate a study of the temperature-dependent thermal properties of Sb2Te3 materials via experimental methods and the mechanism should be explored. The physical mechanism and the contributions from lattice and electron thermal conductivities in the process of thermally-induced structural transformation have been studied

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