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Effect of cerium doping on the crystallization behavior of ZnSb for phase-change memory application

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Abstract

In the paper, the Ce doping is proposed to improve the thermal stability and increase the resistance in ZnSb thin film for phase-change memory (PCM) application. By Ce doping, it is proved that the resistance of amorphous and crystalline state, crystallization temperature (Tc), 10-year lifetime temperature (Tten) and activation energy (Ea) were significantly increased in ZnSb films. The improvement of thermal stability and the reduction of reset current were achieved. Through the experimental investigation, the new formation of Ce–Sb bonding by Ce doping was found in the Sb hexagonal structure, which might be the key reasons for the enhanced performance.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11704161, 11774438), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Nos. BK20151172, BK20170309), Changzhou Sci & Tech Program (No. CM20173002), and sponsored by Qing Lan Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mathematics and Physics, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou, 213001, People’s Republic of China

    Hua Zou, Liangjun Zhai, Yifeng Hu, Jianhao Zhang, Xiaoqin Zhu & Yuemei Sun

  2. State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, People’s Republic of China

    Zhitang Song

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  1. Hua Zou
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Correspondence to Hua Zou or Yifeng Hu.

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Zou, H., Zhai, L., Hu, Y. et al. Effect of cerium doping on the crystallization behavior of ZnSb for phase-change memory application. Appl. Phys. A 124, 717 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2136-x

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