Improved thermal stability of N-doped Sb materials for high-speed phase change memory application

Compared with pure Sb, N-doped Sb material was proved to be a promising candidate for the phase change memory (PCM) use because of its higher crystallization temperature (similar to 250 degrees C), larger crystallization activation energy (3.53 eV), and better data retention ability (166 degrees C for 10 years). N-doping also broadened the band gap and refined grain size. The reversible resistance transition could be achieved by an electric pulse as short as 8 ns for the PCM cell based on N-doped Sb material. A lower operation power consumption (the energy for RESET operation 2.2 x 10(-12) J) was obtained. In addition, N-doped Sb material showed a good endurance of 1.8 x 10(5) cycles. Published by AIP Publishing.