Crystallization behaviors of W-doped Sb3Te phase change films

The thermal stability and crystallization characteristics of W-doped Sb3Te films have been studied systematically. It was found that W atoms presented in the form of amorphous content, which increased the crystallization temperature and crystalline resistance, sustained uniform single crystalline structure and refined their grain size of Sb3Te films. The optimized W20.1(Sb3Te)79.9 film exhibits higher crystallization temperature (∼204 °C), larger crystalline activation energy (∼3.13 eV) and better data retention ability (∼123 °C for 10 yr) as well as a single stable Sb2Te phase for phase change memory application.