Analysis of electron beam-induced effect on electrical switching properties of glass chalcogenide GeTe thin films through Raman spectroscopy

The electrical switching behavior of amorphous GeTe thin films deposited by thermal evaporation technique and exposed to different doses of electron irradiation has been investigated. All the glasses subjected to electron irradiation below 8 kGy have been found to exhibit memory-type electrical switching behavior whereas irradiation at 8 kGy led to electrical breakdown of the device. It has been observed that the threshold switching value decreases initially and then rises again with increasing doses which may be due to structural rearrangement upon irradiation. Raman study has been performed to get greater insight on the irradiation-induced structural modification in the sample. The study exhibited remarkable change in the relative intensity, along with significant band shift with increasing irradiation dose which is in consistent with threshold field for switching.