Scanning electron microscope for in situ study of crystallization of Ge2Sb2Te5 in phase-change memory.
Rev Sci Instrum
; 78(12): 126101, 2007 Dec.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18163750
ABSTRACT
By introducing electrical connections into the chamber of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) via its holder assembly, it has become feasible to in situ observe and electrically characterize electronic devices. The in situ SEM was applied to investigate electric-pulse-induced behavior of Ge(2)Sb(2)Te(5) in a lateral phase-change memory cell. Randomly distributed nuclei with sizes from 20 to 80 nm were initiated at a low voltage pulse. Initially, grain growth depended strongly on pulse amplitude at around 60.3 nm/V and then a weak pulse amplitude dependence was observed at around 13.5 nm/V. Device resistance during crystallization dropped by two to three orders of magnitude with two falling steps, which probably resulted from amorphous to face-centered-cubic and subsequently to hexagonal transitions, respectively.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Rev Sci Instrum
Year:
2007
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Japan