Recent developments concerning the sputter growth of chalcogenide-based layered phase-change materials
Yuta Saito, Misako Morota, Kotaro Makino, Junji Tominaga, Alexander V. Kolobov, Paul Fons
Abstract
This paper reviews recent developments in the sputter growth of chalcogenide thin films for phase-change memory applications. We focus primarily on the growth of highly oriented Sb2Te3, which is a layered material. Sb2Te3 is an end point compound of the GeTe–Sb2Te3 pseudobinary tie-line and an important component of heterogeneously structured phase-change materials. Some key growth parameters are introduced for the fabrication of highly oriented films. The optimization of the sputtering conditions enables the growth of highly oriented films on a variety of substrates even on flexible surfaces. Furthermore, the same techniques are found to be applicable for the deposition of similar materials including Ge-Sb-Te, Bi–Te, Bi2Te3–Sb2Te3, and Bi–Sb alloys. In order to meet the increasing demand for nonvolatile memory as well as other novel electronic devices, the fabrication of high-quality thin films by an industry friendly method is crucial.