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New Structural Picture of the Ge2Sb2Te5 Phase-Change Alloy

X. Q. Liu, X. B. Li, L. Zhang, Y. Q. Cheng, Z. G. Yan, M. Xu, X. D. Han, S. B. Zhang, Z. Zhang, and E. Ma
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 025501 – Published 13 January 2011
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Abstract

Using electron microscopy and diffraction techniques, as well as first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that as much as 35% of the total Ge atoms in the cubic phase of Ge2Sb2Te5 locate in tetrahedral environments. The Ge-vacancy interactions play a crucial stabilizing role, leading to Ge-vacancy pairs and the sharing of vacancies that clusters tetrahedral Ge into domains. The Ge2Sb2Te5 structure with coexisting octahedral and tetrahedral Ge produces optical and structural properties in good agreement with experimental data and explains the property contrast as well as the rapid transformation in this phase-change alloy.

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  • Received 11 August 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.025501

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

© 2011 The American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

X. Q. Liu1, X. B. Li2, L. Zhang1, Y. Q. Cheng3, Z. G. Yan1, M. Xu3, X. D. Han1,*, S. B. Zhang2,4,†, Z. Zhang1,5, and E. Ma3,‡

  • 1Institute of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100022, China
  • 2State Key Laboratory on Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
  • 3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
  • 4Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, USA
  • 5State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials and Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou 310027, China

  • *xdhan@bjut.edu.cn
  • †zhangs9@rpi.edu
  • ‡ema@jhu.edu

Comments & Replies

Comment on “New Structural Picture of the Ge2Sb2Te5 Phase-Change Alloy”

P. Fons, A. V. Kolobov, J. Tominaga, S. Kohara, M. Takata, T. Matsunaga, N. Yamada, and S. Bokoch
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 239603 (2012)

Comment on “New Structural Picture of the Ge2Sb2Te5 Phase-Change Alloy”

Jean-Yves Raty, Christophe Bichara, Riccardo Mazzarello, Pascal Rausch, Peter Zalden, and Matthias Wuttig
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 239601 (2012)

Liu et al. Reply:

X. Q. Liu, X. B. Li, L. Zhang, Y. Q. Cheng, Z. G. Yan, M. Xu, X. D. Han, S. B. Zhang, Z. Zhang, and E. Ma
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 239602 (2012)

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Vol. 106, Iss. 2 — 14 January 2011

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