Surface Energy Driven Cubic-to-Hexagonal Grain Growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film

Abstract Phase change memory (PCM) is a promising nonvolatile memory to reform current commercial computing system. Inhibiting face-centered cubic (f-) to hexagonal (h-) phase transition of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) thin film is essential for realizing high-density, high-speed, and low-power PCM. Although the...

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Autores principales:	Yonghui Zheng, Yan Cheng, Rong Huang, Ruijuan Qi, Feng Rao, Keyuan Ding, Weijun Yin, Sannian Song, Weili Liu, Zhitang Song, Songlin Feng
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f9cd9527bdef48b3b05be3179abc21d5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f9cd9527bdef48b3b05be3179abc21d52021-12-02T15:05:34ZSurface Energy Driven Cubic-to-Hexagonal Grain Growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film10.1038/s41598-017-06426-22045-2322https://doaj.org/article/f9cd9527bdef48b3b05be3179abc21d52017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06426-2https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Phase change memory (PCM) is a promising nonvolatile memory to reform current commercial computing system. Inhibiting face-centered cubic (f-) to hexagonal (h-) phase transition of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) thin film is essential for realizing high-density, high-speed, and low-power PCM. Although the atomic configurations of f- and h-lattices of GST alloy and the transition mechanisms have been extensively studied, the real transition process should be more complex than previous explanations, e.g. vacancy-ordering model for f-to-h transition. In this study, dynamic crystallization procedure of GST thin film was directly characterized by in situ heating transmission electron microscopy. We reveal that the equilibrium to h-phase is more like an abnormal grain growth process driven by surface energy anisotropy. More specifically, [0001]-oriented h-grains with the lowest surface energy grow much faster by consuming surrounding small grains, no matter what the crystallographic reconfigurations would be on the frontier grain-growth boundaries. We argue the widely accepted vacancy-ordering mechanism may not be indispensable for the large-scale f-to-h grain growth procedure. The real-time observations in this work contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the crystallization behavior of GST thin film and can be essential for guiding its optimization to achieve high-performance PCM applications.Yonghui ZhengYan ChengRong HuangRuijuan QiFeng RaoKeyuan DingWeijun YinSannian SongWeili LiuZhitang SongSonglin FengNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Yonghui Zheng Yan Cheng Rong Huang Ruijuan Qi Feng Rao Keyuan Ding Weijun Yin Sannian Song Weili Liu Zhitang Song Songlin Feng Surface Energy Driven Cubic-to-Hexagonal Grain Growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film
description	Abstract Phase change memory (PCM) is a promising nonvolatile memory to reform current commercial computing system. Inhibiting face-centered cubic (f-) to hexagonal (h-) phase transition of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) thin film is essential for realizing high-density, high-speed, and low-power PCM. Although the atomic configurations of f- and h-lattices of GST alloy and the transition mechanisms have been extensively studied, the real transition process should be more complex than previous explanations, e.g. vacancy-ordering model for f-to-h transition. In this study, dynamic crystallization procedure of GST thin film was directly characterized by in situ heating transmission electron microscopy. We reveal that the equilibrium to h-phase is more like an abnormal grain growth process driven by surface energy anisotropy. More specifically, [0001]-oriented h-grains with the lowest surface energy grow much faster by consuming surrounding small grains, no matter what the crystallographic reconfigurations would be on the frontier grain-growth boundaries. We argue the widely accepted vacancy-ordering mechanism may not be indispensable for the large-scale f-to-h grain growth procedure. The real-time observations in this work contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the crystallization behavior of GST thin film and can be essential for guiding its optimization to achieve high-performance PCM applications.
format	article
author	Yonghui Zheng Yan Cheng Rong Huang Ruijuan Qi Feng Rao Keyuan Ding Weijun Yin Sannian Song Weili Liu Zhitang Song Songlin Feng
author_facet	Yonghui Zheng Yan Cheng Rong Huang Ruijuan Qi Feng Rao Keyuan Ding Weijun Yin Sannian Song Weili Liu Zhitang Song Songlin Feng
author_sort	Yonghui Zheng
title	Surface Energy Driven Cubic-to-Hexagonal Grain Growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film
title_short	Surface Energy Driven Cubic-to-Hexagonal Grain Growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film
title_full	Surface Energy Driven Cubic-to-Hexagonal Grain Growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film
title_fullStr	Surface Energy Driven Cubic-to-Hexagonal Grain Growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film
title_full_unstemmed	Surface Energy Driven Cubic-to-Hexagonal Grain Growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film
title_sort	surface energy driven cubic-to-hexagonal grain growth of ge2sb2te5 thin film
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/f9cd9527bdef48b3b05be3179abc21d5
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Surface Energy Driven Cubic-to-Hexagonal Grain Growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film

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