Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Nanoscale. 2012 Aug 7;4(15):4382-92. doi: 10.1039/c2nr30541k. Epub 2012 Jun 27.
Phase change memory materials store information through their reversible transitions between crystalline and amorphous states. For typical metal chalcogenide compounds, their phase transition properties directly impact critical memory characteristics and the manipulation of these is a major focus in the field. Here, we discuss recent work that explores the tuning of such properties by scaling the materials to nanoscale dimensions, including fabrication and synthetic strategies used to produce nanoscale phase change memory materials. The trends that emerge are relevant to understanding how such memory technologies will function as they scale to ever smaller dimensions and also suggest new approaches to designing materials for phase change applications. Finally, the challenges and opportunities raised by integrating nanoscale phase change materials into switching devices are discussed.
相变存储材料通过其在晶态和非晶态之间的可逆转变来存储信息。对于典型的金属硫族化合物，它们的相变特性直接影响关键的存储特性，因此对这些特性的操控是该领域的主要关注点。在这里，我们讨论了通过将材料缩小到纳米尺寸来调整这些特性的最新研究工作，包括用于制备纳米相变存储材料的制造和合成策略。出现的趋势对于理解这些存储技术在缩小到更小尺寸时的功能很重要，也为相变应用的材料设计提供了新的方法。最后，讨论了将纳米相变材料集成到开关器件中所带来的挑战和机遇。
