Sub-nanometre resolution of atomic motion during electronic excitation in phase-change materials
Abstract
Phase-change materials based on Ge-Sb-Te alloys are widely used in industrial applications such as nonvolatile memories, but reaction pathways for crystalline-to-amorphous phase-change on picosecond timescales remain unknown. Femtosecond laser excitation and an ultrashort x-ray probe is used to show the temporal separation of electronic and thermal effects in a long-lived (>100 ps) transient metastable state of Ge2Sb2Te5 with muted interatomic interaction induced by a weakening of resonant bonding. Due to a specific electronic state, the lattice undergoes a reversible nondestructive modification over a nanoscale region, remaining cold for 4 ps. An independent time-resolved x-ray absorption fine structure experiment confirms the existence of an intermediate state with disordered bonds. Furthermore, this newly unveiled effect allows the utilization of non-thermal ultra-fast pathways enabling artificial manipulation of the switching process, ultimately leading to a redefined speed limit, and improved energy efficiency and reliability of phase-change memory technologies.
- Authors:
-
- National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba (Japan); RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Kouto (Japan)
- National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba (Japan); RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Kouto (Japan); Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Kouto (Japan)
- National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba (Japan)
- Univ. of Tsukuba (Japan)
- Hirosaki Univ. (Japan)
- National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba (Japan); Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Kouto (Japan)
- Paul-Drude-Institut fur Festkorperelektronik, Berlin (Germany)
- RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Kouto (Japan)
- Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Kouto (Japan)
- The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona (Spain)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). X-ray Science Division
- National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba (Japan); Univ. of Tsukuba (Japan); RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Kouto (Japan)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1253632
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; condensed-matter physics; phase transition and critical phenomena; surfaces, interfaces and thin films
Citation Formats
Mitrofanov, Kirill V., Fons, Paul, Makino, Kotaro, Terashima, Ryo, Shimada, Toru, Kolobov, Alexander V., Tominaga, Junji, Bragaglia, Valeria, Giussani, Alessandro, Calarco, Raffaella, Riechert, Henning, Sato, Takahiro, Katayama, Tetsuo, Ogawa, Kanade, Togashi, Tadashi, Yabashi, Makina, Wall, Simon, Brewe, Dale, and Hase, Muneaki. Sub-nanometre resolution of atomic motion during electronic excitation in phase-change materials. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1038/srep20633.
Mitrofanov, Kirill V., Fons, Paul, Makino, Kotaro, Terashima, Ryo, Shimada, Toru, Kolobov, Alexander V., Tominaga, Junji, Bragaglia, Valeria, Giussani, Alessandro, Calarco, Raffaella, Riechert, Henning, Sato, Takahiro, Katayama, Tetsuo, Ogawa, Kanade, Togashi, Tadashi, Yabashi, Makina, Wall, Simon, Brewe, Dale, & Hase, Muneaki. Sub-nanometre resolution of atomic motion during electronic excitation in phase-change materials. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep20633
Mitrofanov, Kirill V., Fons, Paul, Makino, Kotaro, Terashima, Ryo, Shimada, Toru, Kolobov, Alexander V., Tominaga, Junji, Bragaglia, Valeria, Giussani, Alessandro, Calarco, Raffaella, Riechert, Henning, Sato, Takahiro, Katayama, Tetsuo, Ogawa, Kanade, Togashi, Tadashi, Yabashi, Makina, Wall, Simon, Brewe, Dale, and Hase, Muneaki. Fri .
"Sub-nanometre resolution of atomic motion during electronic excitation in phase-change materials". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep20633. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1253632.
@article{osti_1253632,
title = {Sub-nanometre resolution of atomic motion during electronic excitation in phase-change materials},
author = {Mitrofanov, Kirill V. and Fons, Paul and Makino, Kotaro and Terashima, Ryo and Shimada, Toru and Kolobov, Alexander V. and Tominaga, Junji and Bragaglia, Valeria and Giussani, Alessandro and Calarco, Raffaella and Riechert, Henning and Sato, Takahiro and Katayama, Tetsuo and Ogawa, Kanade and Togashi, Tadashi and Yabashi, Makina and Wall, Simon and Brewe, Dale and Hase, Muneaki},
abstractNote = {Phase-change materials based on Ge-Sb-Te alloys are widely used in industrial applications such as nonvolatile memories, but reaction pathways for crystalline-to-amorphous phase-change on picosecond timescales remain unknown. Femtosecond laser excitation and an ultrashort x-ray probe is used to show the temporal separation of electronic and thermal effects in a long-lived (>100 ps) transient metastable state of Ge2Sb2Te5 with muted interatomic interaction induced by a weakening of resonant bonding. Due to a specific electronic state, the lattice undergoes a reversible nondestructive modification over a nanoscale region, remaining cold for 4 ps. An independent time-resolved x-ray absorption fine structure experiment confirms the existence of an intermediate state with disordered bonds. Furthermore, this newly unveiled effect allows the utilization of non-thermal ultra-fast pathways enabling artificial manipulation of the switching process, ultimately leading to a redefined speed limit, and improved energy efficiency and reliability of phase-change memory technologies.},
doi = {10.1038/srep20633},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = ,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Feb 12 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Fri Feb 12 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
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