Dresden 2009 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten
DS 26: Poster II
DS 26.26: Poster
Mittwoch, 25. März 2009, 09:30–12:30, P5
Electronic properties of phase change materials — •Karl Simon Siegert, Carl Schlockermann, Hanno Volker, and Anja Herpers — 1st Institute of Physics 1A, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
Phase change materials such as Ge2Sb2Te5 or GeTe offer unique physical properties that make them interesting for several technical applications. These materials show significant changes in optical and electrical properties upon an atomic rearrangement such as crystallization. The technological use of Ge2Sb2Te5 in DVD-RAMs, for instance, is already well established. It is due to the profound optical contrast between the amorphous and the crystalline cubic phase as well as the fast crystallization kinetics. Because of their electronic properties, e.g. a high resistivity contrast between the different states, phase change materials are promising candidates for a new non volatile computer memory. Although some companies have already presented prototypes of new memory chips using this technology, the electronic properties of this class of materials are not well understood and are still subject of intensive research. Our work focuses on electronic properties of phase change materials. We have analyzed thin films of phase change material deposited by sputtering. The determination of the electrical resistance of the films and its dependence on several different parameters such as the temperature and thickness of the film was the object of our investigation. To determine the relevant properties, the van-der-Pauw method to obtain geometry-independent sheet resistance data was employed together with XRR measurements for film thickness determination.