Low-Energy Amorphization of Ti(1)Sb(2)Te(5) Phase Change Alloy Induced by TiTe(2) Nano-Lamellae

Increasing SET operation speed and reducing RESET operation energy have always been the innovation direction of phase change memory (PCM) technology. Here, we demonstrate that ∼87% and ∼42% reductions of RESET operation energy can be achieved on PCM cell based on stoichiometric Ti(1)Sb(2)Te(5) alloy, compared with Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) and non-stoichiometric Ti(0.4)Sb(2)Te(3) based PCM cells at the same size, respectively. The Ti(1)Sb(2)Te(5) based PCM cell also shows one order of magnitude faster SET operation speed compared to that of the Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) based one. The enhancements may be caused by substantially increased concentration of TiTe(2) nano-lamellae in crystalline Ti(1)Sb(2)Te(5) phase. The highly electrical conduction and lowly thermal dissipation of the TiTe(2) nano-lamellae play a major role in enhancing the thermal efficiency of the amorphization, prompting the low-energy RESET operation. Our work may inspire the interests to more thorough understanding and tailoring of the nature of the (TiTe(2))(n)(Sb(2)Te(3))(m) pseudobinary system which will be advantageous to realize high-speed and low-energy PCM applications.