Pt Modified Sb(2)Te(3) Alloy Ensuring High−Performance Phase Change Memory

Phase change memory (PCM), due to the advantages in capacity and endurance, has the opportunity to become the next generation of general−purpose memory. However, operation speed and data retention are still bottlenecks for PCM development. The most direct way to solve this problem is to find a material with high speed and good thermal stability. In this paper, platinum doping is proposed to improve performance. The 10-year data retention temperature of the doped material is up to 104 °C; the device achieves an operation speed of 6 ns and more than 3 × 10(5) operation cycles. An excellent performance was derived from the reduced grain size (10 nm) and the smaller density change rate (4.76%), which are less than those of Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) (GST) and Sb(2)Te(3). Hence, platinum doping is an effective approach to improve the performance of PCM and provide both good thermal stability and high operation speed.