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Sub-nanometre resolution of atomic motion during electronic excitation in phase-change materials [electronic resource].

Published:
Washington, D.C. : United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences, 2016.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Physical Description:
Article numbers 20,633 : digital, PDF file
Additional Creators:
Argonne National Laboratory, United States. Department of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information
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Summary:
Phase-change materials based on Ge-Sb-Te alloys are widely used in industrial applications such as nonvolatile memories, but reaction pathways for crystalline-to-amorphous phase-change on picosecond timescales remain unknown. Femtosecond laser excitation and an ultrashort x-ray probe is used to show the temporal separation of electronic and thermal effects in a long-lived (>100 ps) transient metastable state of Ge2Sb2Te5 with muted interatomic interaction induced by a weakening of resonant bonding. Due to a specific electronic state, the lattice undergoes a reversible nondestructive modification over a nanoscale region, remaining cold for 4 ps. An independent time-resolved x-ray absorption fine structure experiment confirms the existence of an intermediate state with disordered bonds. Furthermore, this newly unveiled effect allows the utilization of non-thermal ultra-fast pathways enabling artificial manipulation of the switching process, ultimately leading to a redefined speed limit, and improved energy efficiency and reliability of phase-change memory technologies.
Report Numbers:
E 1.99:1253632
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Note:
Published through SciTech Connect.
02/12/2016.
"127712"
Scientific Reports 6 ISSN 2045-2322 AM
Kirill V. Mitrofanov; Paul Fons; Kotaro Makino; Ryo Terashima; Toru Shimada; Alexander V. Kolobov; Junji Tominaga; Valeria Bragaglia; Alessandro Giussani; Raffaella Calarco; Henning Riechert; Takahiro Sato; Tetsuo Katayama; Kanade Ogawa; Tadashi Togashi; Makina Yabashi; Simon Wall; Dale Brewe; Muneaki Hase.
Funding Information:
AC02-06CH11357
View MARC record | catkey: 23759124