Investigation of electrical characteristics of the In3Sb1Te2 ternary alloy for application in phase-change memory

Abstract

A simple layered phase-change random access memory (PRAM) cell was fabricated using the In3Sb1Te2 alloy. The overall resistance value of the reset state was about 70 times larger than that of the set state. The resistance difference between the amorphous and crystalline state was fairly well maintained after 10(2) cycles. Interestingly, the measured current-voltage (I-V) curve showed three obvious steps in the crystalline state. By means of high temperature X-ray diffractometry (HTXRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments, we confirmed that the current steps originate from successive structural transformations of the In3Sb1Te2 ternary alloy. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim