Phase-Change Memory from Molecular Tellurides

Abstract

Phase-change memory (PCM) is an emerging memory technology based on the resistance contrast between the crystalline and amorphous states of a material. Further development and realization of PCM as a mainstream memory technology rely on innovative materials and inexpensive fabrication methods. Here, we propose a generalizable and scalable solution-processing approach to synthesize phase-change telluride inks in order to meet demands for high-throughput material screening, increased energy efficiency, and advanced device architectures. Bulk tellurides, such as Sb ₂Te ₃, GeTe, Sc ₂Te ₃, and TiTe ₂, are dissolved and purified to obtain inks of molecular metal telluride complexes. This allowed us to unlock a wide range of solution-processed ternary tellurides by the simple mixing of binary inks. We demonstrate accurate and quantitative composition control, including prototype materials (Ge–Sb–Te) and emerging rare-earth-metal telluride-doped materials (Sc–Sb–Te). Spin-coating and annealing convert ink formulations into high-quality, phase-pure telluride films with preferred orientation along the (00l) direction. Deposition engineering of liquid tellurides enables thickness-tunable films, infilling of nanoscale vias, and film preparation on flexible substrates. Finally, we demonstrate cyclable and non-volatile prototype memory devices, achieving performance indicators such as resistance contrast and low reset energy on par with state-of-the-art sputtered PCM layers.