Characterization of the thermal properties for Si-implanted Sb2Te3 phase change material

The microstructure and thermal properties of Si-implanted Sb2Te3 were investigated. Crystalline Si-implanted Sb2Te3 film with relatively uniform composition depth profile was fabricated, which consists of Si4−x (0 < x < 1) ions and crystalline Sb2Te3. No separated Te phase was found. The crystallization activation energies of crystallization increase with Si dose from 5 × 1015 to 2.16 × 1016 Si-ions/cm2. The crystallization temperatures of the films are 149, 168, and 174 °C with 5 × 1015, 1 × 1016, and 2.16 × 1016 Si-ions/cm2 ion implantation, respectively. Furthermore, the Sb2Te3 film implanted with the dose of 1 × 1016 Si-ions/cm2 can maintain the data for 10 yr at 85 °C, which is comparable to Ge2Sb2Te5. The results indicate that the Si-implanted Sb2Te3 is a promising candidate for phase change memory application.