Inducing Chalcogenide Phase Change with Ultra-Narrow Carbon Nanotube
  Heaters

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Abstract

Carbon nanotube (CNT) heaters with sub-5 nm diameter induce highly localized phase change in Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) chalcogenide. A significant reduction in resistance of test structures is measured as the GST near the CNT heater crystallizes. Effective GST heating occurs at currents as low as 25 uA, significantly lower than in conventional phase change memory with metal electrodes (0.1-0.5 mA). Atomic force microscopy reveals nucleation sites associated with phase change in GST around the CNT heater. Finite element simulations confirm electrical characteristics consistent with the experiments, and reveal the current and phase distribution in GST.

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Electrical and Thermal Transport in Metallic Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes on Insulating Substrates

David Mann, Eric Pop, Kenneth Goodson … (2006)

We analyze transport in metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on insulating substrates over the bias range up to electrical breakdown in air. To account for Joule self-heating, a temperature-dependent Landauer model for electrical transport is coupled with the heat conduction equation along the nanotube. The electrical breakdown voltage of SWNTs in air is found to scale linearly with their length, approximately as 5 V/um; we use this to deduce a thermal conductance between SWNT and substrate g ~ 0.17 +/- 0.03 W/K/m per tube length, which appears limited by the SWNT-substrate interface rather than the thermal properties of the substrate itself. We examine the phonon scattering mechanisms limiting electron transport, and find the strong temperature dependence of the optical phonon absorption rate to have a remarkable influence on the electrical resistance of micron-length nanotubes. Further analysis reveals that unlike in typical metals, electrons are responsible for less than 15% of the total thermal conductivity of metallic nanotubes around room temperature, and this contribution decreases at high bias or higher temperatures. For interconnect applications of metallic SWNTs, significant self-heating may be avoided if power densities are limited below 5 uW/um, or if the SWNT-surrounding thermal interface is optimized.