title: Measurement of crystal growth velocity in a melt-quenched phase-change material.
abstract: Phase-change materials are the basis for next-generation memory devices and reconfigurable electronics, but fundamental understanding of the unconventional kinetics of their phase transitions has been hindered by challenges in the experimental quantification. Here we obtain deeper understanding based on the temperature dependence of the crystal growth velocity of the phase-change material AgInSbTe, as derived from laser-based time-resolved reflectivity measurements. We observe a strict Arrhenius behaviour for the growth velocity over eight orders of magnitude (from ~10 nm s(-1) to ~1 m s(-1)). This can be attributed to the formation of a glass at elevated temperatures because of rapid quenching of the melt. Further, the temperature dependence of the viscosity is derived, which reveals that the supercooled liquid phase must have an extremely high fragility (>100). Finally, the new experimental evidence leads to an interpretation, which comprehensively explains existing data from various different experiments reported in literature.
authors.affiliation: I. Physikalisches Institut (IA) and JARA-FIT, RWTH Aachen University, Sommerfeldstraße 14, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salinga
authors.forename: Egidio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carria
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaldenbach
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bornhöfft
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benke
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wuttig