Ultrafast phase change speed and high thermal stability of scandium doped SnSb4 thin film for PCRAM applications

Abstract

To address the challenge of reconciling the trade-off between phase change speed and thermal stability in phase change materials, we synthesized Sc-doped SnSb4 thin films with a composition of Sn22Sb76Sc2 and investigated their phase change properties. Our findings demonstrate that the Sn22Sb76Sc2 thin film exhibits enhanced thermal stability and faster phase change speed than Ge2Sb2Te5. The Sc-Sn bond formed during crystallization contributes to an improved data retention capability of up to 166 °C. Notably, the phase change speed of the Sn22Sb76Sc2 thin film on the basis of device test can reach up to 20 ns. Additionally, the power consumption of the Sn22Sb76Sc2 thin film (1.1 × 10−11 J) is nearly two orders of magnitude lower than that of Ge2Sb2Te5 (9.7 × 10−10 J). These results provide compelling evidence that the Sn22Sb76Sc2 thin film can overcome the "inverted relation" between high thermal stability and fast phase change speed, achieving a balanced performance.