• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.88-93
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• 2024

To evaluate the possibility as a multi-level memory medium for the Ge₂Sb₂Te₅/TiN/W-doped Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ cell structure, the crystallization rate and stabilization characteristics according to voltage (V)- and current (I)- pulse sweeping were investigated. In the cell structures prepared by a magnetron sputtering system on a p-type Si (100) substrate, the Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ and W-doped Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ thin films were separated by a barrier metal, TiN, and the individual thicknesses were varied, but the total thickness was fixed at 200 nm. All cell structures exhibited relatively stable multi-level states of high-middle-low resistance (HR-MR-LR), which guarantee the reliability of the multilevel phase-change random access memory (PRAM). The amorphousto-multilevel crystallization rate was evaluated from a graph of resistance (R) vs. pulse duration (T) obtained by the nanoscaled pulse sweeping at a fixed applied voltage (12 V). For all structures, the phase-change rates of HR→MR and MR→LR were estimated to be approximately t<20 ns and t<40 ns, respectively, and the states were relatively stable. We believe that the doublestack structure of an appropriate Ge-Sb-Te film separated by barrier metal (TiN) can be optimized for high-speed and stable multilevel PRAM.