Study on the thermal stability improvement of GeTe by Al doping

摘要

Al-doped GeTe is proposed for high-temperature phase-change memories (PCM). The bonding and coordination environment of Al atoms in Al_(2.7)Ge_(50)Te_(50) is studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance. The large number of bonds provided by Al improves the stability of the amorphous-state (10-yr retention at 177 ℃) as well as the uniformity of the material distribution. The low melting temperature (676 ℃) and high set-resistance lower power-consumption of the Al_(2.7)Ge_(50)Te_(50) based cell. The high thermal stability and low power-consumption have made Al_(2.7)Ge_(50)Te_(50) material a promising candidate for high thermally stable PCM application.