As a new type of storage technology, phase change storage technology exhibits the advantages of non-volatility, fast read and write speed, long service life, and good compatibility with existing semiconductor technologies. Since entering people's field of vision, it has attracted many researchers. In particular, it has developed rapidly in the past decade. Scholars are also constantly exploring the phase change principle of phase change memory materials. The existing ones such as umbrella jump theory, multi-ring theory, and resonance bond theory can explain the phase change mechanism of phase change memory materials from a certain angle. In addition, the researchers have also established a theoretical model, which will greatly benefit the development of new phase change memory materials. For phase change memory materials, there are disadvantages such as slow crystallization speed, low crystallization temperature, poor thermal stability, and high operating voltage. Currently, the commonly used modification method is to dope non-metal elements or metal elements on the basis of raw materials to make the crystallization speed, resistivity, thermal stability, grain size, operating voltage, and service life have been optimized. For example, the Ti-Sb-Te and Sc-Sb-Te new phase change memory materials developed in recent years have improved performance in many aspects such as crystallization temperature, crystallization speed, and thermal stability, and are expected to be candidate materials for phase change memory. At present, the preparation methods of phase change memory materials mainly include magnetron sputtering, which has fast deposition speed and high purity of the film produced. However, scholars have not yet reached a unified conclusion on the phase change mechanism of phase change memory materials. The performance of phase change memory materials is poor and cannot meet the requirements of industrialization, thus in-depth research is still needed. This article focuses on the development of phase change memory materials, reviews the phase change mechanism, doping modification, pre-paration methods, characterization methods and industrialization progress of phase change memory materials, and deeply analyzes the phase change mechanism of phase change memory materials and doping mechanism. In the future, the research mode of phase change memory materials will be transformed into a design, development, and optimization method, which will further shorten the research cycle of phase change memory materials. © 2020, Materials Review Magazine. All right reserved.
