Investigation on Sb-rich Sb-Se-Te phase-change material for phase change memory application

Sb-rich Sb65Se6Te29 film was investigated for phase change random access memory (PCRAM) application. The crystallization temperature of the Sb65Se6Te29 film is 174 degrees C and the crystalline activation energy is about 2.7 eV. The 10-years' failure temperature for the Sb65Se6Te29 film is about 87 degrees C. sufficient for most consumer applications. The results of UV/visible/NIR spectrophotometer measurements show that the optical gap of the Sb65Se6Te29 film decreases as it transforms from amorphous phase to crystalline phase. Compared with the Ge2Sb2Te5 based PCRAM cell, the Sb65Se6Te29 based PCRAM cell has the advantages of lower threshold voltage and larger resistance contrast. Furthermore, as short as 10 ns electrical pulse can achieve Reset operation with a Reset voltage of 2.9 V. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.