Erasing Performance of Phase-Change Materials for Scanning Probe Applications

摘要

The erasable performance of a scanning probe phase-change memory from the amorphous to the crystalline phase or vice versa is investigated here in light of a previously developed 2D comprehensive model. The simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of erasing amorphous bits from a crystalline background using the scanning probe phase-change memory under low power consumption. Erasing crystalline bits from an amorphous background is found to be problematic due to the presence of the unwanted transformation of the crystalline 'ring'. Such a drawback can be however effectively overcome using either 'patterned' media or slow crystal growth material, according to a newly developed nucleation-growth model.