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Effect of Electrode Material on the Crystallization of GeTe Grown by Atomic Layer Deposition for Phase Change Random
Seung Ik Oh1, In Hyuk Im2, Chanyoung Yoo3
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology (Seoultech), Seoul 01811, Korea. kg5176@naver.com.
Abstract:
The electrical switching behavior of the GeTe phase-changing material grown by atomic layer deposition is characterized for the phase change random access memory (PCRAM) application. Planar-type PCRAM devices are fabricated with a TiN or W bottom electrode (BE). The crystallization behavior is characterized by applying an electrical pulse train and analyzed by applying the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami kinetics model. The device with TiN BE shows a high Avrami coefficient (>4), meaning that continuous and multiple nucleations occur during crystallization (set switching). Meanwhile, the device with W BE shows a smaller Avrami coefficient (~3), representing retarded nucleation during the crystallization. In addition, larger voltage and power are necessary for crystallization in case of the device with W BE. It is believed that the thermal conductivity of the BE material affects the temperature distribution in the device, resulting in different crystallization kinetics and set switching behavior.
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