• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.411-414
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• 2008

The germanium films were deposited by metal organic chemical vapor deposition using $Ge(allyl)_4$ precursors on TiAlN substrates. Deposition of germanium films was only possible with a presence of $Sb(iPr)_3$, which means that $Sb(iPr)_3$ takes a catalytic role by a thermal decomposition of $Sb(iPr)_3$ for Ge film deposition. Also, as Sb bubbler temperature increases, deposition rate of the Ge films increases at a substrate temperature of $370^{\circ}C$. The GeTe thin films were fabricated by MOCVD with $Te(tBu)_2$ on Ge thin film. The GeTe films were grown by the tellurium deposition at $230-250^{\circ}C$ on Ge films deposited on TiAlN electrode in the presence of Sb at $370^{\circ}C$. The GeTe film growth on Ge films depends on the both the tellurium deposition temperature and deposition time. Also, using $Sb(iPr)_3$ precursor, GeSbTe films with hexagonal structures were fabricated on GeTe thin films. GeSbTe films were deposited in trench structure with 200 nm*120 nm small size.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.86-90
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• 2017

This work reports the phase-change behavior and thermal stability of doped GeSbTe/GeSbTe bilayers. We prepared the bilayers using RF sputtering, and annealed them at annealing temperature ranging from $100^{\circ}C$ to $400^{\circ}C$. The sheet resistance of the bilayer decreased and saturated with increasing annealing temperature, and the saturated value was close to that of pure GeSbTe film. The surface of the bilayer roughened at $400^{\circ}C$, which corresponds to the surface roughening of doped GeSbTe film. Mixed phases of face-centered cubic and hexagonal close-packed crystalline structures were identified in the bilayers annealed at elevated temperature. These results indicate that the phase-change behavior of the bilayer depends on the concurrent phase-transitions of the two GeSbTe-based films. The dopants in the doped GeSbTe film were diffused out at annealing temperatures of $300^{\circ}C$ or higher, which implies that the thermal stability of the bilayer should be considered for its application in phase-change electronic devices.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.408-413
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• 2016

The dielectric thin films applied to multi-colored semitransparent thin film solar cells have been extensively studied. In this work, we prepared GeSbTe and GeTe chalcogenide thin films using magnetron sputtering, and investigated their optical and phase-change properties to replace the dielectric films. The changes of surface morphology, sheet resistance, and X-ray diffraction of the Te-based chalcogenide films support the fact that the amorphous stability of GeTe films is superior to that of GeSbTe films. While both amorphous GeSbTe and GeTe films thinner than 30 nm have optical transparency between 5% and 60%, GeTe films transmit more visible light than GeSbTe films. It is confirmed by computer simulation that the color of semitransparent silicon thin film solar cells can be adjusted with the addition of GeSbTe or GeTe films. Since it is possible to adjust the contrast of the solar cells by exploiting the phase-change property, the two kinds of chalcogenide films are anticipated to be used as an optical layer in semitransparent solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.918-922
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• 2006

Chalcogenide Phase change memory has the high performance necessary for next-generation memory, because it is a nonvolatile memory with high programming speed, low programming voltage, high sensing margin, low power consumption and long cycle duration. To minimize the power consumption and the program voltage, the new composition material which shows the better phase-change properties than conventional $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ device has to be needed by accurate material engineering. In the present work, we investigate the basic thermal and the electrical properties due to phase-change compared with chalcogenide-based new composition $Ge_1Se_1Te_2$ material thin film and convetional $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ PRAM thin film. The fabricated new composition $Ge_1Se_1Te_2$ thin film exhibited a successful switching between an amorphous and a crystalline phase by applying a 950 ns -6.2 V set pulse and a 90 ns -8.2 V reset pulse. It is expected that the new composition $Ge_1Se_1Te_2$ material thin film device will be possible to applicable to overcome the Set/Reset problem for the nonvolatile memory device element of PRAM instead of conventional $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ device.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2022

In this paper, we investigated current (I)- and voltage (V)-sweeping properties in a double-stack structure, Ge₂Sb₂Te₅/Ti/W-doped Ge₈Sb₂Te₁₁, a candidate medium for applications to multilevel phase-change memory. 200-nm-thick and W-doped Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ and W-doped Ge₈Sb₂Te₁₁ films were deposited on p-type Si(100) substrate using magnetron sputtering system, and the sheet resistance was measured using 4 point-probe method. The sheet resistance of amorphous-phase W-doped Ge₈Sb₂Te₁₁ film was about 1 order larger than that of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ film. The I- and V-sweeping properties were measured using sourcemeter, pulse generator, and digital multimeter. The speed of amorphous-to-multilevel crystallization was evaluated from a graph of resistance vs. pulse duration (t) at a fixed applied voltage (12 V). All the double-stack cells exhibited a two-step phase change process with the multilevel memory states of high-middle-low resistance (HR-MR-LR). In particular, the stable MR state is required to guarantee the reliability of the multilevel phase-change memory. For the Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (150 nm)/Ti (20 nm)/W-Ge₈Sb₂Te₁₁ (50 nm), the phase transformations of HR→MR and MR→LR were observed at t<30ns and t<65ns, respectively. We believe that a high speed and stable multilevel phase-change memory can be optimized by the double-stack structure of proper Ge-Sb-Te films separated by a barrier metal (Ti).

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.215-222
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• 2002

Using an in-situ ellipsometer, we monitored the growth curve of optical recording media in real time. For confirmation of the thickness control using in-situ ellipsometry, we analyzed the deposited multi-layer sample made of Ge-Sb-Te alloy film and ZnS-Si0$_2$ dielectric films using an exsitu spectroscopic ellipsometer. The target material in the first sputtering gun is ZnS-SiO$_2$ as the protecting dielectric layer and that in the second gun is Ge$_2$sb$_2$Te$_{5}$ as the receding layer. While depositing ZnS-SiO$_2$, Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_{5}$ and ZnS-SiO$_2$ films on c-Si substrate in sequence, we measured Ψ $\Delta$ in real time. Utilizing the complex refractive indices of Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_{5}$ and ZnS-SiO$_2$ obtained from the analysis of spectroscopic ellipsometry data, the evolution of ellipsometric constants Ψ, $\Delta$ with thickness is calculated. By comparing the calculated evolution curve of ellipsometric constants with the measured one, and by analyzing the effect of density variation of the Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_{5}$ recording layer on ellipsometric constants with thickness, we precisely monitored the growth rate of the Ge-Sb-Te multilayer and controlled the growth process. The deviation of the real thicknesses of Ge-Sb-Te multilayer obtained under the strict monitoring is post confirmed to be less than 1.5% from the target structure of ZnS-SiO$_2$(1400 $\AA$)IGST(200 $\AA$)$\mid$ZnS-SiO$_2$(200$\AA$).(200$\AA$).

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.134-134
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• 2009

In this work, we report that crystallization speed as well as the electrical and optical properties about the N-doped $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ thin films. The 200-nm-thick N-doped $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ thin film was deposited on p-type (100) Si and glass substrate by RF reactive sputtering at room temperature. The amorphous-to-crystalline phase transformation of N-doped $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ thin films investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Changes in the optical transmittance of as-deposited and annealed films were measured using a UV-VIS-IR spectrophotometer and four-point probe was used to measure the sheet resistance of N-doped $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ thin films annealed at different temperature. In addition, the surface morphology and roughness of the films were observed by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The crystalline speed of amorphous N-doped $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ films were measured by using nano-pulse scanner with 658 nm laser diode (power : 1~17 mW, pulse duration: 10~460 ns). It was found that the crystalline speed of thin films are decreased by adding N and the crystalline temperature is higher. This means that N-dopant in $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ thin film plays a role to suppress amorphous-to-crystalline phase transformation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.21-22
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• 2008

In the paper, we report several experimental data capable of evaluating the phase transformation characteristics of $Ag_x(Ge_2Sb_2Te_5)_{1-x}$ (x =0, 0.05, 0.1) thin films. The $Ag_x(Ge_2Sb_2Te_5)_{1-x}$ phase change thin films have been prepared by thermal evaporation. The crystallization characteristics of amorphous$Ag_x(Ge_2Sb_2Te_5)_{1-x}$ thin films were investigated by using nano-pulse scanner with 658 nm laser diode (power; 1~17 mW, pulse duration; 10~460 ns) and XRD measurement. It was found that the more Ag is doped, the more crystallization speed was 50 improved. In comparision with $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ thin film, the sheet resistance$(R_{amor})$ of the amorphous $Ag_x(Ge_2Sb_2Te_5)_{1-x}$ thin films were found to be lager than that of $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ film($R_{amor}$ $\sim10^7\Omega/\square$ and $R_{cryst}$ 10 $\Omega/\square$). That is, the ratio of $R_{amor}/R_{cryst}$ was evaluates to be $\sim10^6$ This is very helpful to writing current reduction of phase-change random acess memory.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.199-205
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• 2010

The crystallization speed (v) of amorphous (InTe)$_x$(GeTe) (x = 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) films and their thermal, optical and electrical behaviors have been investigated using nano-pulse scanner (wavelength = 658 nm, laser beam diameter < 2 ${\mu}m$), X-ray diffraction (XRD), 4-point probe and UV-vis-IR spectrophotometer. These results were compared with those of $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ (GST) film, comprehensively utilized for phase-change random access memory (PRAM). Both v-value and thermal stability of (InTe)$_{0.1}$(GeTe) and (InTe)$_{0.3}$(GeTe) films could be enhanced in comparison with those of the GST. Contrarily, the v-value in the (InTe)$_{0.5}$(GeTe) film was so drastically deteriorated that we could not quantitatively evaluate it. This deterioration is thought because amorphous (InTe)$_{0.5}$(GeTe) film has relatively high reflectance, resulting in too low absorption to cause the crystallization. Conclusively, it could be thought that a proper compositional (InTe)$_x$(GeTe) films (e.g., x < 0.3) may be good candidates with both high crystallization speed and thermal stability for PRAM application.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.404-409
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• 2011

An amorphous $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ thin film is one of the most commonly used materials for phase-change data storage. In this study, $Au_x(Ge_2Sb_2Te_5)_{1-x}$ thin film amorphous-to-crystalline phase-change rate were evaluated in using 658 nm laser beam. The focused laser beam with a diameter <10 ${\mu}m$ was illuminated in the power (P) and pulse duration (t) ranges of 1-17 mW and 10-460 ns, respectively, with subsequent detection of the responsive signals reflected from the film surface. We also evaluated the material characteristics, such as optical absorption and energy gap, crystalline phases, and sheet resistance of as-deposited and annealed films. The result of experiments showed that the thermal stability of the $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ film is largely improved by adding Au.