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Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Disordered Materials pp 457–484Cite as

The Prototype Phase Change Material \({\mathrm{Ge}_2}{\mathrm{Sb}_2}{\mathrm{Te}_5}\): Amorphous Structure and Crystallization

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Part of the book series: Springer Series in Materials Science ((SSMATERIALS,volume 215))

Abstract

The widespread use of phase change materials in storage media is based on the extremely rapid and reversible switching between the amorphous and crystalline phases of some families of semiconducting alloys. Detailed information about the structure of the amorphous phase and the mechanism of crystallization are essential for the development of new storage media, and we study both aspects here using density functional/molecular dynamics simulations of \({\mathrm{Ge}_2}{\mathrm{Sb}_2}{\mathrm{Te}_5}\), the prototype phase change material of the Ge/Sb/Te semiconductor family.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all colleagues who worked with us on these problems, particularly K. Kobayashi, S. Kohara, J. Larrucea, T. Matsunaga, and N. Yamada. J.A. thanks the Academy of Finland for support. We acknowledge gratefully the computer time provided by the JARA-HPC Vergabegremium on the JARA-HPC partition of the supercomputer JUQUEEN at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, and for time granted on the supercomputer JUROPA at Jülich Supercomputer Centre. The German Research School for Simulation Sciences is a joint venture of the FZ Jülich and the RWTH Aachen University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Tampere University of Technology, 33101, Tampere, Finland

    Jaakko Akola

  2. COMP Centre of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, 00076, Aalto, Finland

    Jaakko Akola

  3. Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore, 487372, Singapore

    Janne Kalikka

  4. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Janne Kalikka

  5. Peter Grünberg Institut PGI-1 and JARA/HPC, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425, Jülich, Germany

    Robert O. Jones

  6. German Research School for Simulation Sciences, FZ Jülich and RWTH Aachen University, 52425, Jülich, Germany

    Robert O. Jones

Authors
  1. Jaakko Akola
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  2. Janne Kalikka
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  3. Robert O. Jones
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert O. Jones .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IPCMS, Strasbourg University, Strasbourg, France

    Carlo Massobrio

  2. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineeri, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

    Jincheng Du

  3. Dept. of Materials Science, University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Marco Bernasconi

  4. Dept. of Physics, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom

    Philip S. Salmon

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Akola, J., Kalikka, J., Jones, R.O. (2015). The Prototype Phase Change Material \({\mathrm{Ge}_2}{\mathrm{Sb}_2}{\mathrm{Te}_5}\): Amorphous Structure and Crystallization. In: Massobrio, C., Du, J., Bernasconi, M., Salmon, P. (eds) Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Disordered Materials. Springer Series in Materials Science, vol 215. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15675-0_17

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