DOI: 10.1063/1.4819097. Conductive preferential paths of hot carriers in amorphous phase-change materials

Conductive preferential paths of hot carriers in amorphous phase-change materials

10.1063/1.4819097

Crossref journal-article

AIP Publishing

Applied Physics Letters (317)

Abstract

We study charge transport properties of amorphous phase-change materials (PCM) using a set of balance equations applied to a three-dimensional random network of sites. In the context of trap-limited conduction, model results are checked against experimental data on PCM devices near the limits of scaling (∼10 nm), explaining the main features of the current-voltage characteristics. The stochastic nature of the network also allows us to investigate the statistical variability of the sub-threshold PCM operation. Simulations of batches of similar samples show a standard deviation for the threshold condition of the order of few percent for the threshold voltage and of ten percent for the threshold current. The analysis of the network at the microscopic level near threshold reveals the formation of high-current paths, connecting the two contacts of the device through network nodes hosting the hottest carriers.

Bibliography

Cappelli, A., Piccinini, E., Xiong, F., Behnam, A., Brunetti, R., Rudan, M., Pop, E., & Jacoboni, C. (2013). Conductive preferential paths of hot carriers in amorphous phase-change materials. Applied Physics Letters, 103(8).

Authors 8

Andrea Cappelli (first)
Enrico Piccinini (additional)
Feng Xiong (additional)
Ashkan Behnam (additional)
Rossella Brunetti (additional)
Massimo Rudan (additional)
Eric Pop (additional)
Carlo Jacoboni (additional)

References 23 Referenced 26

10.1103/PhysRevLett.21.1450 / Phys. Rev. Lett. (1968)
10.1038/nmat2009 / Nature Mater. (2007)
10.1021/nl102255r / Nano Lett. (2010)
10.1109/JPROC.2012.2190369 / Proc. IEEE (2012)
10.7567/JJAP.52.04CN05 / Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. (2013)
10.1088/1367-2630/13/1/013020 / New J. Phys. (2011)
10.1109/T-ED.1973.17628 / IEEE Trans. Electron Devices (1973)
10.1109/IEDM.2009.5424263 / IEDM - Tech. Dig.
10.1109/JPROC.2010.2070050 / Proc. IEEE (2010)
10.1002/pssb.200982012 / Phys. Status Solidi B (2009)
10.1103/PhysRevB.78.035308 / Phys. Rev. B (2008)
10.1063/1.4761997 / J. Appl. Phys. (2012)
10.1016/j.sse.2013.02.007 / Solid-State Electron. (2013)
10.1063/1.3100779 / Appl. Phys. Lett. (2009)
10.1126/science.1201938 / Science (2011)
10.1021/nl3038097 / Nano Lett. (2013)
{'volume-title': 'Electronic Processes in Non-Crystalline Materials', 'year': '1979', 'key': '2023062401033071200_c17'} / Electronic Processes in Non-Crystalline Materials (1979)
10.1063/1.2737137 / Appl. Phys. Lett. (2007)
10.1063/1.2773688 / J. Appl. Phys. (2007)
10.1063/1.4788798 / J. Appl. Phys. (2013)
See supplementary material at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4819097 for the complete derivation and discussion of the equations and the solution scheme, the estimation of the amorphous bit size, the comparison of the results from the present model with those obtained with the HD model, and three animations describing the microscopic evolution of the network as a function of the prescribed current.
10.1109/MCSE.2011.35 / Comput. Sci. Eng. (2011)
10.1063/1.328036 / J. Appl. Phys. (1980)

Dates

Type	When
Created	12 years ago (Aug. 20, 2013, 10:17 p.m.)
Deposited	2 years, 1 month ago (June 24, 2023, 9:38 a.m.)
Indexed	3 weeks, 1 day ago (July 30, 2025, 7:01 a.m.)
Issued	12 years ago (Aug. 19, 2013)
Published	12 years ago (Aug. 19, 2013)
Published Online	12 years ago (Aug. 20, 2013)
Published Print	12 years ago (Aug. 19, 2013)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Cappelli_2013, title={Conductive preferential paths of hot carriers in amorphous phase-change materials}, volume={103}, ISSN={1077-3118}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4819097}, DOI={10.1063/1.4819097}, number={8}, journal={Applied Physics Letters}, publisher={AIP Publishing}, author={Cappelli, Andrea and Piccinini, Enrico and Xiong, Feng and Behnam, Ashkan and Brunetti, Rossella and Rudan, Massimo and Pop, Eric and Jacoboni, Carlo}, year={2013}, month=aug }

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