Improved phase-change characteristics of Zn-doped amorphous Sb7Te3 films for high-speed and low-power phase change memory

The superior performance of Zn-doped Sb7Te3 films might be favorable for the application in phase change memory. It was found that Zn dopants were able to suppress phase separation and form single stable Sb2Te crystal grain, diminish the grain size, and enhance the amorphous thermal stability of Sb7Te3 film. Especially, Zn30.19(Sb7Te3)69.81 film has higher crystallization temperature (∼258 °C), larger crystallization activation energy (∼4.15 eV), better data retention (∼170.6 °C for 10 yr), wider band gap (∼0.73 eV), and higher crystalline resistance. The minimum times for crystallization of Zn30.19(Sb7Te3)69.81 were revealed to be as short as ∼10 ns at a given proper laser power of 70 mW.