Enhanced crystallization of GeTe from an Sb2Te3 template

Crystalline Sb2Te3 templates reduce the crystallization time of the phase change material GeTe by four orders of magnitude to 20 ns. Structural measurements and density functional theory molecular dynamics atomistic modeling show that this reduction is a direct consequence of textured crystal growth from a plane of octahedral crystal nucleation centers. The nucleation template serves to reduce the crystallization activation energy by 2.6 eV allowing crystallization to proceed at a temperature 95 degrees C lower than that of the untemplated GeTe film. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3675635]