Ultralow-power switching via defect engineering in germanium telluride phase-change memory devices.

ABSTRACT: Crystal-amorphous transformation achieved via the melt-quench pathway in phase-change memory involves fundamentally inefficient energy conversion events; and this translates to large switching current densities, responsible for chemical segregation and device degradation. Alternatively, introducing defects in the crystalline phase can engineer carrier localization effects enhancing carrier-lattice coupling; and this can efficiently extract work required to introduce bond distortions necessary for amorphization from input electrical energy. Here, by pre-inducing extended defects and thus carrier localization effects in crystalline GeTe via high-energy ion irradiation, we show tremendous improvement in amorphization current densities (0.13-0.6 MA cm(-2)) compared with the melt-quench strateg

SUBMITTER: Nukala P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4737760 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature