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25 April 2024

» arxiv » 1602.1885

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Picosecond electric field induced threshold switching in phase-change materials
Peter Zalden ; Michael J. Shu ; Frank Chen ; Yi Zhu ; Haidan Wen ; Scott Johnston ; Zhi-Xun Shen ; Patrick Landreman ; Mark Brongersma ; Scott W. Fong ; H.-S. Philip Wong ; Meng-Ju Sher ; Peter Jost ; Matthias Kaes ; Martin Salinga ; Alexander von Hoegen ; Matthias Wuttig ; Aaron Lindenberg ;
Date:	5 Feb 2016
Abstract:	Phase-change memory is an emerging non-volatile electronic data storage technology based on the transition between an amorphous and a crystalline state. Its operation speed is limited by the crystallization pro-cess, which requires threshold switching prior to driving a current that heats the glassy material above its crystalli-zation temperature. Threshold switching is accompanied by a three-order of magnitude increase in electronic con-ductivity at a critical field strength. Here, single-cycle electromagnetic waves in the terahertz regime are used to excite amorphous Ag$_4$In$_3$Sb$_{67}$Te$_{26}$ (AIST). Field-dependent te-rahertz conductivity and pulse-driven crystallization are observed. In contrast to previous experiments indicating that the timescale for threshold switching is field depend-ent and might be limited to nanoseconds, the present results show that it takes place within the electric field pulse on picosecond time-scales. Consequently, if pulses of sufficient field strength are employed, the delay asso-ciated with threshold switching becomes negligible as compared to the nanosecond thermal crystallization mechanism. The implications for pre-selector devices and for the mechanism behind threshold switching are dis-cussed.
Source:	arXiv, 1602.1885
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