N-doped Si 0.6Sb 2Te 3 material for applications of phase-change memory

Abstract

Nitrogen incorporated Si 0.6Sb 2Te 3 film shows higher crystallization temperature (∼185C) than Ge 2Sb 2Te 5 (∼150C). No separated Si or Te phase is observed within crystalline nitrogen-doped Si 0.6Sb 2Te 3 material (SST-N). Nitrogen incorporated in Si 0.6Sb 2Te 3 material prefers to bind with Si atoms instead of Sb or Te atoms. Phase-change memory (PCM) cell based on SST-N shows faster reversible phase-change speed and lower SET and RESET threshold voltages than those of Ge 2Sb 2Te 5 based cell. In addition, up to 10 4 cycles of endurance for the SST-N based cell are observed. SST-N material is a promising candidate for high speed and low-power PCM applications. © 2012 The Electrochemical Society.