Microstructural properties of phase-change Ge2Sb2Te5 nanoparticles grown by pulsed-laser ablation

We have introduced in-situ growth of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) nanoparticles with 10 nm of average diameter by pulsed laser ablation directly on Pt/Ir-coated AFM tips and investigated their microstructure and phase formation using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. In addition, Fourier transform analysis of electron micrographs discloses the crystal structure of the Ge2Sb2Te5 phase which has a lattice constant with approximately 6 A like bulk value of face-centered cubic and hexagonal structure.