Influence of HfO2 oxide layer on crystallization properties of In3SbTe2 phase change material

Abstract Phase Change Memory (PCM) represents a potential paradigm in the realm of non-volatile memory technologies, and several phase change materials are studied for utilization in PCM devices. This work employs a less explored In 3 SbTe 2 (IST) phase change material (active layer) integrated with an oxide (HfO 2 ) layer and investigates the influence of the oxide layer on the active layer. The oxide layer remains amorphous when annealed at 400 °C, and it doesn’t alter the crystallization temperature (290 °C) of the active layer in IST with HfO 2 thin-film. However, after crystallization, the grain size of the active layer is reduced to ∼8.23 nm in IST with HfO 2 thin-film, compared to only IST thin-film. XPS core-level spectra (In 3d, Sb 3d, Te 3d) of IST active layer reveal the peak shifting towards higher binding energy at 300 °C and 400 °C annealed films, implying bond energy increase with crystallization and film stability improves. The Hf or O atoms of the oxide layer don’t diffuse into the active layer with annealing, suggesting no interference with the phase switching property of IST. A higher optical bandgap of 1.154 eV in as-deposited IST with HfO 2 thin-film compared to the only IST thin-film illustrates better stability of the amorphous state in the film with the oxide layer. In addition, the fabricated PCM device using the IST with the oxide layer demonstrates phase switching at a lower threshold voltage of (2.1 ± 0.1) V, compared to the IST-based device. The findings indicate that the enhanced structural and electrical switching characteristics of IST phase change layer coupled with an oxide layer make it beneficial for data storage PCM applications.