Engineering Commons^™

Electronically Tuned Phase Transition In Germanium Telluride (Gete) Cells For Memory And Rf Switch Applications, Dushyant Tomer, Ronald A. Coutu Jr.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Germanium telluride (GeTe) is a phase change material that undergoes an amorphous to crystalline transition upon heating to ~ 200oC. This transition is reversible in nature and results in ~ six orders of magnitude difference in GeTe resistivity which makes it a suitable candidate for data storage and other functional devices. In this work, micro-size phase change test cells were fabricated by RF sputtering GeTe thin films onto silicon (Si) wafers and Si wafers coated with silicon dioxide (SiO2), silicon nitride (Si3N4), and alumina (Al2O3) films. Two different heating methods, conductive and electrical (i.e. Joule heating), were applied to induce …