Reduction of Rocksalt Phase in Ag-Doped Ge2Sb2Te5: A Potential Material for Reversible Near-Infrared Window

Chalcogenide phase-change materials, which exhibit an amorphous-to-crystalline structural transition, are useful for applications in digital data storage, random-access memory, displays, and transmission windows for photonic devices. Here researchers dope the important chalcogenide Ge${}_{2}$Sb${}_{2}$Te${}_{5}$ with silver to lower its switching temperature, by drastically altering its electronic structure. This is of particular interest for developing photodetectors operating at near-infrared wavelengths.