Modeling of Crystallization Activation Energy for GeTe-Sb_2Te_3 Based Phase Change Materials

摘要

In this paper, we modeled the activation energies of GeSbTe type of phase change materials. This model is based on the analysis of the atomic bonding types in the amorphous state and the crystalline state. Both the bond numbers and bond energies were used to calculate the crystallization activation energies. The calculated crystallization activation energies of the as-deposited amorphous states match the experimental data in the literature. We also estimated the crystallization activation energies of the melt-quenched amorphous states for different GeTe-Sb_2Te_3 phase change materials. The results show that the activation energies of the melt-quenched amorphous state are 0.21～0.48 eV lower than those of the as-deposited amorphous state. This might explain the difference of the crystallization behaviors between the as-deposited and the melt-quenched amorphous states.