Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik

MM 26: Poster Session

MM 26.42: Poster

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 14:45–16:30, Poster C

Crystallization kinetics of phase change materials — •Andreas Kaldenbach, Sebastian Gabel, Carl Schlockermann, Martin Salinga, and Matthias Wuttig — I. Institute of Physics (IA), RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany

Phase-change materials are one of the most promising candidates for future memory technology applications and are presently considered to replace FLASH-Memory or even DRAM. The non-volatility of the stored data is a key feature of these phase-change memories, which is enabled by a permanent structural rearrangement: the switching between a highly resistive amorphous state and a low resistance crystalline one. The fundamental mechanism of crystallization in these materials is still not fully understood. That's why a comprehensive investigation of the temperature dependence of crystal nucleation and growth is highly desirable. However, within the temperature regime between the glass transition temperature and the melting point, phase-change materials possess an extremely fast crystallization speed. Therefore a new optical in-situ tester has been assembled to tackle this challenge on a nanosecond timescale. It uses a pulsed laser to thermally induce the switching and a probe laser to measure the changing reflectivity during the switching process. The measurement principle is demonstrated using AgInSbTe, a typical phase change material known from optical data storage.