Generation and the role of dislocations in single-crystalline phase-change In ₂ Se ₃ nanowires under electrical pulses

Journal Article · Fri Jul 08 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Nanotechnology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/27/33/335704· OSTI ID:1340832

Mafi, Elham; Tao, Xin; Zhu, Wenguang; Gao, Yanfei; Wang, Chongmin; Gu, Yi

Using single crystalline In2Se3 nanowires as a platform, we have studied the RESET switching (from low to high electrical resistance) in this phase-change material under electric pulses. Particularly, we correlated the atomic-scale structural evolutions with local electrical resistance variations, by performing transmission electron microscopy and scanning Kelvin probe microscopy on the same nanowires. By coupling the experimental results with density functional theory calculations, we show that the immobile dislocations generated via vacancy condensations are responsible for the RESET switching and that the material maintains the single crystallinity during the process. This new mechanism is fundamentally different from the crystalline-amorphous transition, which is commonly understood as the underlying process for the RESET switching in similar phase-change materials.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1340832
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-110190; 47607; KP1704020
• Journal Information: Nanotechnology, Vol. 27, Issue 33; ISSN 0957-4484
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory