Phase transformation behaviors of SiO2 doped Ge2Sb2Te5 films for application in phase change random access memory

The improvement in the phase change characteristics of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) films for phase change random access memory applications was investigated by doping the GST films with SiO2 using cosputtering at room temperature. As the sputtering power of SiO2 increased from 0 to 150 W, the activation energy for crystallization increased from 2.1 +/- 0.2 to 3.1 +/- 0.15 eV. SiO2 inhibited the crystallization of the amorphous GST films, which improved the long term stability of the metastable amorphous phase. The melting point decreased with increasing concentration of SiO2, which reduced the power consumption as well as the reset current. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.