Relative activation energy for laser-induced crystallization of phase change materials

摘要

The relative activation energy (E-a*) derived from a pulsed laser-induced crystallization of phase change materials (PCMs) was suggested as a useful quantitative parameter to represent the practical switching speed, energy consumption, and storage reliability of phase change random access memory (PRAM). We employed the time-for-constant-fraction technique using the reflectivity change of PCMs and the irradiated laser power/pulse width. Using the suggested method, the E-a* values for the Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST), Bi-doped GST (5.9 at%), and Sn-doped GST (17.7 at%) films were determined to be 6.34 x 10(-9), 4.56 x 10(-9), and 3.77 x 10(-9) J, respectively, which reflected their expected device performances of PRAM. (C) 2018 The Japan Society of Applied Physics