2021/03/11 by Julian Pries, Julia Sehringer, Pries, Julian +7
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Phase-change materials and chalcogenides #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.soft #physics.app-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2103.06565
arxiv created 2021/03/11 · arxiv updated 2021/03/12
Engineering phase change materials (PCM) to realize superior data storage devices requires a detailed understanding of crystallization kinetics and its temperature dependence. The temperature dependence of crystallization differs distinctly between crystallizing from the glassy phase and the undercooled liquid (UCL). Hence, knowing the phase from which crystallization occurs is necessary for predicting the switching ability. Here, we measure the glassy dynamics and crystallization kinetics using calorimetry for heating rates spanning over six orders of magnitude. Our results show that the prominent PCM (Ag,In)-doped Sb2Te (AIST) exhibits a change from crystallizing from the glassy phase to crystallizing from the UCL at a critical heating rate of 5,000 K/s. Above the glass transition, the activation energy of crystallization changes drastically enabling rapid crystallization at elevated temperatures.