Study on the Cu-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 for low-power phase change memory

•Crystallization temperature of the Ge2Sb2Te5 films increases remarkably.•The Ea of Cu-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 films increases.•The best 10-years lifetime at temperature up to 134 °C is found in Cu0.10(Ge2Sb2Te5)0.90 films.•The power consumption of PCRAM test cell based on Cu0.10(Ge2Sb2Te5)0.90 film is low.

Cu0.10(Ge2Sb2Te5)0.90 is proposed for low power consumption phase change memory (PCM). The thermal stability of Ge2Sb2Te5 is increased by 10 at% Cu doping, with the crystallization temperature and data retention increased from 163 °C to 202 °C and from 87 °C to 134 °C, respectively. The electric operation results have proved the low power consumption and good cycling ability (>104), which may result from the low melting point (486 °C) and the negligible phase separation in Cu0.10(Ge2Sb2Te5)0.90. The good thermal stability, low Tm and good cycling phase change ability have made Cu0.10(Ge2Sb2Te5)0.90 a promising candidate for the low power consumption PCM application.