Premium
Possible mechanisms of switching in amorphous chalcogenides
Author(s) -
Popescu Mihai,
Velea Alin
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201200351
Subject(s) - chalcogenide , cellular automaton , mechanism (biology) , amorphous solid , materials science , field (mathematics) , switching time , electrical resistivity and conductivity , computer science , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , physics , chemistry , algorithm , crystallography , mathematics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics
A new description of the switching phenomenon is given. The switching is regarded as due to the formation and breaking of the links between the dendrites of crystalline nuclei in bulk materials, as a consequence of the energy pumped by an electrical field. This mechanism explains the very short switching time (<20 ns), the possibility to get smart memories based on multisteps of resistivity and the high number of cycles supported by the cell (10 16 ). A cellular automaton mechanism was created on the basis of this model for switching. Multistage memory in chalcogenide materials has also been explained by this mechanism.