Reversible Phase Change Characteristics of Cr-Doped Sb2Te3 Films with Different Initial States Induced by Femtosecond Pulses.

As a kind of chalcogenide alloy, phase change material has been widely used as novel storage medium in optical disk or electrical memory. In this paper, femtosecond pulses are used to study the reversible phase transition processes of Cr-doped Sb2Te3 films with different initial states. The SET processes are all induced by multiple pulses and relate to the increase of crystallized partial in the irradiated spot. When the Cr concentration is 5.3 at % or 10.5 at %, the crystallization mechanism is still growth-dominated as Sb2Te3, which is beneficial for high speed and high density storage, whereas the necessary crystallization energy increases with more Cr-dopants, leading to higher amorphous thermal stability. RESET results by multiple pulses show that Cr-dopants will not increase the power consumption, and the increase in Cr-dopants could greatly increase the antioxidant capacity. Single-pulse experiments show that the RESET process involves the competition of melting/amorphization and recrystallization. The reversible SET/RESET results on different initial states are quite different from each other, which is mainly due to the different surroundings around the irradiated spot. Crystalline surroundings provide higher thermal conductivity and lead to easier crystallization, whereas amorphous surroundings were the reverse. All in all, Cr-doped Sb2Te3 films with suitable composition have advantages for storage with high density, better thermal stability, and lower power consumption; and the suitable initial states could ensure better reversible phase transition performances.