Pressure-Induced Site-Selective Disordering of Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5}: A New Insight into Phase-Change Optical Recording

Journal Article · Fri Jul 21 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.97.035701· OSTI ID:20860537

Kolobov, A V ^[1]; Haines, J; Pradel, A; Ribes, M ^[2]; Fons, P; Tominaga, J ^[1]; Katayama, Y ^[3]; Hammouda, T ^[4]; Uruga, T ^[5]

---

1. Center for Applied Near-Field Optics Research (CanFor), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8562 (Japan)
2. Laboratoire de Physicochimie de la Matiere Condensee, UMR CNRS 5617, Universite Montpellier II, Place Eugene Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5 (France)
3. Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Kouto, 1-1-1, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5148 (Japan)
4. Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, Universite Blaise Pascal-CNRS-OPGC, 5 rue Kessler, 63038 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex (France)
5. JASRI, SPring8, Mikazuki, Hyogo 679-5198 (Japan)

We demonstrate that Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5}, the material of choice in phase-change optical recording (such as DVD-RAM), can be rendered amorphous by the application of hydrostatic pressure. It is argued that this structural change is due to a very strong second-nearest-neighbor Te-Te interaction that determines the long-range order in the metastable cubic phase of Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} and also to the presence of vacancies. This newly discovered phenomenon suggests that pressure is an important factor for the formation of the amorphous phase which opens new insight into the mechanism of phase-change optical recording.

• OSTI ID: 20860537
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.035701; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMORPHOUS STATE
ANTIMONY COMPOUNDS
GERMANIUM COMPOUNDS
INTERACTIONS
MEMORY DEVICES
TELLURIUM COMPOUNDS
VACANCIES