Topological Study of Phase-Separated Ag-Conducting Chalcogenide Glasses Using Peak Force Quantitative Nano-Mechanical Characterization

Andrea A Piarristeguy,Raphaël Escalier,Michel Ramonda,Annie Pradel,Rozenn Le Parc

doi:10.3389/fmats.2019.00340

Abstract

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Highlights

Owing to their remarkable properties (IR transparency, high ionic conduction, photo-diffusion, etc.), chalcogenide glasses aroused strong interest in both the academic community and private companies
Peak Force Quantitative Nano-Mechanical (PF-QNM) mapping was used to characterize a series of binary GeySe100−y glasses and phase-separated Agx(Ge0.25Se0.75)100−x glasses
A decrease in the indentation modulus when the selenium content increased in the binary glasses and when the silver content increased in phase-separated ternary glasses, as a consequence of the increasing flexibility of the network, was observed

Summary

Introduction

Owing to their remarkable properties (IR transparency, high ionic conduction, photo-diffusion, etc.), chalcogenide glasses aroused strong interest in both the academic community and private companies. In order to explain the operation of this memory and in particular its very short switching time hardly compatible with the mobility of Ag+ ions, various hypotheses have been proposed and among them, the presence of pre-existing silver-rich zones within the amorphous film—which would be heterogeneous— and the creation of conduction paths between these zones To confirm this hypothesis and to better understand the phenomena at the origin of the switching from a resistive state to a conductive state in CB-RAM memories, the electrical, structural, and thermal properties of bulk Ag-Ge-Se glasses have been widely studied (Dejus et al, 1988, 1991, 1992; Kawasaki et al, 1999; Mitkova et al, 1999; Iyetomi et al, 2000; Piarristeguy et al, 2000, 2003, 2007a, 2012; Ureña et al, 2003, 2005; Wang et al, 2003; Cervinka et al, 2005; Tafen et al, 2005; Cuello et al, 2007; Prasai and Drabold, 2011; Le Parc et al, 2013; Stellhorn et al, 2016a,b; Zeidler et al, 2016, 2018). It was shown that the conductivity of Agx(Ge0.25Se0.75)100−x glasses with 1 < x < 30 at. % increases suddenly by seven to eight orders of magnitude at 7–10 at. % Ag

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion