Field-induced nucleation in phase change memory

V. G. Karpov, Y. A. Kryukov, I. V. Karpov, and M. Mitra
Phys. Rev. B 78, 052201 – Published 26 August 2008

Abstract

A theory of field-induced crystal nucleation is developed and verified experimentally for the case of switching in nanoglasses of phase change memory. For symmetry-breaking strong electric fields, it predicts needle-shaped crystallites with nucleation barriers lower than that of spherical nuclei and a strong field dependent. We have observed bias dependent switching for times and temperatures far beyond those typically reported and supportive of our predictions, in particular, switching time exponential in voltage and temperature.

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  • Received 19 March 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.78.052201

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

V. G. Karpov* and Y. A. Kryukov

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606, USA

I. V. Karpov and M. Mitra

  • Intel Corporation, RN3-01, 2200 Mission College Boulevard, Santa Clara, California 95052, USA

  • *vkarpov@physics.utoledo.edu

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Issue

Vol. 78, Iss. 5 — 1 August 2008

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