Regular Article

Influence of yttrium element on the crystallization performance of ZnSb alloy for phase change memory application

¹ School of Mathematics and Physics, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou 213001, P.R. China
² Key Laboratory of Microelectronic Devices & Integrated Technology, Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, P.R. China

^* e-mail: wwh@jsut.edu.cn
^** e-mail: zxq@jsut.edu.cn

Received: 9 March 2023
Received in final form: 16 July 2023
Accepted: 22 August 2023
Published online: 4 October 2023

Abstract

The crystallization behavior and electrical performance of Y-doped Zn₁₅Sb₈₅ phase change material were proposed and experimental examined. The relationship between the resistance and temperature reveals that the Y dopant is able to enhancing the thermal stability (T_c ~ 237°C, T₁₀ ~ 169 °C) and resistivity (R_a ~ 10⁵ Ω, R_c ~ 10² Ω) of Zn₁₅Sb₈₅ films, which are suitable for automobile design and surface mount technology. XRD results indicate that the Y dopant could effectively inhibit grain growth and reduce grain size. Meanwhile, XPS illustrates that Y is more likely to form bonds with Sb. Further, the resistance drift index and surface roughness become small after doping Y element, which is of great benefit to improving the reliability and electrical performance of the device. Moreover, T-shaped phase change memory cells based on Y_0.36(Zn₁₅Sb₈₅)_0.64 film were also built and analyzed. The characteristic of current − voltage (I-V) and resistance − voltage (R-V) prove that the SET and RESET operations can be achieved by electric induction, implying the excellent candidate of Y-doped Zn₁₅Sb₈₅ material for high thermal and high reliability application.