Carbon-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 phase-change memory devices featuring reduced RESET current and power consumption

• Published in: 2012 Proceedings of the European Solid-State Device Research Conference (ESSDERC) pp. 286 - 289
• Main Authors: Hubert, Q., Jahan, C., Toffoli, A., Navarro, G., Chandrashekar, S., Noe, P., Sousa, V., Perniola, L., Nodin, J.-F., Persico, A., Maitrejean, S., Roule, A., Henaff, E., Tessaire, M., Zuliani, P., Annunziata, R., Reimbold, G., Pananakakis, G., De Salvo, B.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.09.2012
• Subjects: Carbon; Crystallization; Phase change materials; Phase change memory; Resistance; Temperature measurement
• ISBN: 9781467317078; 1467317071
• ISSN: 1930-8876
• DOI: 10.1109/ESSDERC.2012.6343389

In this paper, carbon-doped Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 , integrating from 5% to 15% of carbon content, is studied as an alternative phase-change material. Accurate electrical characterizations were performed both on large and shrinked PCM devices. Compared to pure Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 based reference devices, a wide decrease of about 50% of the RESET current, which translates into a RESET power reduction of about 25%, is observed when 5% of carbon is added to Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 . Moreover, an improved endurance up to 10 8 cycles is obtained while maintaining a programming window higher than 2 orders of magnitude. An increase of about 30% of the activation energy for the crystallization process is also observed. Therefore, this paper suggests that Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 doped with 5% of carbon is a promising phase-change material for future PCM technology.