• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.404-409
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• 2011

An amorphous $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ thin film is one of the most commonly used materials for phase-change data storage. In this study, $Au_x(Ge_2Sb_2Te_5)_{1-x}$ thin film amorphous-to-crystalline phase-change rate were evaluated in using 658 nm laser beam. The focused laser beam with a diameter <10 ${\mu}m$ was illuminated in the power (P) and pulse duration (t) ranges of 1-17 mW and 10-460 ns, respectively, with subsequent detection of the responsive signals reflected from the film surface. We also evaluated the material characteristics, such as optical absorption and energy gap, crystalline phases, and sheet resistance of as-deposited and annealed films. The result of experiments showed that the thermal stability of the $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ film is largely improved by adding Au.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.24-27
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• 2003

We have been investigated phase-change with temperature and electric field in chalcogenide Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$\sub$5/ thin film. T$\sub$c/(crystallization temperature) is confirmed by measuring the resistance with the varying temperature on the hotplate. We have measured I-V characteristics with Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$\sub$5/ chalcogenide thin film. It is compared with I-V characteristics after impress the variable pulse. The pulse has variable height and duration.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.146-152
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• 2011

Thermal stability of $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ (GST) and $SiO_2$ doped GST (SGST) films for phase change random access memory applications was investigated by observing the change of surface roughness, layer density and composition of both films after isothermal annealing. After both GST and SGST films were annealed at $325^{\circ}C$ for 20 min, root mean square (RMS) surface roughness of GST was increased from 1.9 to 35.9 nm but that of SGST was almost unchanged. Layer density of GST also steeply decreased from 72.48 to 68.98 $g/cm^2$ and composition was largely varied from Ge : Sb : Te = 22.3 : 22.1 : 55.6 to 24.2 : 22.7 : 53.1, while those of SGST were almost unchanged. It was confirmed that the addition of a small amount of $SiO_2$ into GST film restricted the deterioration of physical and chemical properties of GST film, resulting in the better thermal stability after isothermal annealing.