High performance Al3Sc alloy doped Al3Sc–Sb2Te chalcogenides for phase change memory application

An Al3Sc alloy doped Al3Sc–Sb2Te chalcogenide was put forward to avoid oxidation of pure Sc and enhance data retention ability. Compared with conventional Ge2Sb2Te5 and Sc-doped Sc0.2Sb2Te3 materials, the Al3Sc alloy doped Al3Sc–Sb2Te chalcogenide has much better thermal stability and data retention. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analysis reveal that the structure of Al3Sc–Sb2Te has no obvious change compared with Sb2Te, except for the refined grain size. The Al3Sc–Sb2Te based device shows excellent reversible SET–RESET properties with a suitable operation window and a low power consumption of 1.38 × 10−11 J. In addition, a good cyclability of 1 × 106 cycles can be obtained with a large resistance ratio of about 102. Our calculations reveal that Al and Sc atoms prefer bonding with Te atoms. These stable local patterns stabilize glassy states and result in high stability.