Investigation of Cu-Sn-Se material for high-speed phase-change memory applications

Cu-Sn-Se material was prepared by magnetron sputtering to investigate its potential application in phase change memory. The amorphous-to-crystalline transition was studied by in situ film resistance measurements. Cu-Sn-Se material had lower activation energy for crystallization (1.60 eV) and higher crystallization resistance than SnSe. The amorphous Cu-Sn-Se had more narrow band gap compared to SnSe. After the adding of Cu, the crystallization of Cu-Sn-Se material was inhibited and the grain structure became more compact. The picosecond laser pulse measurement indicated that Cu-Sn-Se material had a fast phase change speed (3.36 ns). The results demonstrated that Cu-Sn-Se material was a promising phase change material which had low power and high speed application in phase change memory.