Electrical pump-probe characterization technique for phase change materials

Phase change memory (PCM) is a high-speed, scalable, resistive non-volatile memory technology that utilizes melting followed by rapid resolidification and annealing above glass-transition temperature to switch a small volume of phase change material to reversibly switch between conductive crystalline and resistive amorphous phases. PCM offers the potential to fill the gap between dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and flash memory with its density, speed, endurance and non-volatility. This potential can be realized with engineering of materials, devices and the electrical signals used for device operation. However, understanding of PCM is rather complicated compared to conventional solid-state devices due to changing material properties, the high temperatures involved. Furthermore, the critically important metastable materials properties, crystallization dynamics, resistance drift and transport mechanism are not well characterized yet [1]-[8].