title: Self-Structured Conductive Filament Nanoheater for Chalcogenide Phase Transition.
abstract: Ge2Sb2Te5-based phase-change memories (PCMs), which undergo fast and reversible switching between amorphous and crystalline structural transformation, are being utilized for nonvolatile data storage. However, a critical obstacle is the high programming current of the PCM cell, resulting from the limited pattern size of the optical lithography-based heater. Here, we suggest a facile and scalable strategy of utilizing self-structured conductive filament (CF) nanoheaters for Joule heating of chalcogenide materials. This CF nanoheater can replace the lithographical-patterned conventional resistor-type heater. The sub-10 nm contact area between the CF and the phase-change material achieves significant reduction of the reset current. In particular, the PCM cell with a single Ni filament nanoheater can be operated at an ultralow writing current of 20 μA. Finally, phase-transition behaviors through filament-type nanoheaters were directly observed by using transmission electron microscopy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Byoung Kuk
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Myunghwan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Byun
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seungjun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Keon Jae
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: conductive filament; low power consumption; nanoheater; phase-change memory