Phase Change Memory (PCM) offers rapid and reversible switching between high-resistance (digital ‘0’) amorphous and low-resistance (digital ‘1’) crystalline phases using nanosecond electrical pulses. Furthermore, owing to the increased demand for high-density non-volatile memory, PCM is being explored for multi-bit data storage. Among most of the phase change (PC) materials, Ge2Sb2Te5 has extensively been studied due to its promising features including ultrafast crystallization/re-amorphization in nanosecond timescale and a high degree of scalability with low programming current. However, Ge2Sb2Te5-based PC materials offer relatively poor thermal stability characterized by a low crystallization temperature (~160 oC).



The search for novel PC materials with improved thermal and electrical properties is essential to enhance the performance characteristics of multi-bit PCM devices. This talk will present a choice of phase change material with improved thermal stability and higher contrast in electrical resistances that can possibly help store more bits in the same cell. Furthermore, optimization of thin film parameters of InSbTe phase change material and device characteristics will be discussed. Also, the development of a temperature-dependent thin film sheet resistance measurement setup using the Van der Pauw Method will be presented.