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Effect of Cu doping on microstructure and thermal stability of Ge2Sb2Te5 thin film

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Abstract

The microstructure and thermal stability of Cu-doping Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) phase-change thin films are investigated. In this work, Cu-doping GST thin films are deposited on Si substrate using magnetron co-sputtering method. The experimental results show that there is no obviously phase segregation in Cu-doping GST thin films annealed at elevated temperature. Crystallization process of Cu-doping GST thin films annealed at 270 °C is nucleation-driven, and the phase transformation process from cubic structure to hexagonal structure is interface control process. Cu doping can promote the growth of {0001} oriented grains during the process of annealed at 370 °C, leading to sharp {0001} fiber texture, which is beneficial to improve the switching speed of the phase-change memory devices. With the increasing of Cu content, thickness variation during phase transformation of Cu-doping GST thin films decreases gradually, indicating that Cu doping contributes to enhance cycling endurance. Thermal stability of GST thin film is also improved by Cu doping, and the crystallization temperature of Cu13.7(GST)86.3 is 190 °C. The bond formation of Cu–Te is beneficial to obtain more stable amorphous phase, which contributes to enhance thermal stability of GST thin film.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 51771023).

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  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Qian Gao & Leng Chen

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  1. Qian Gao
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Correspondence to Leng Chen.

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Gao, Q., Chen, L. Effect of Cu doping on microstructure and thermal stability of Ge2Sb2Te5 thin film. Appl. Phys. A 125, 564 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-019-2865-5

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