A simple method used to evaluate phase-change materials based on focused-ion beam technique

A nanoscale phase-change line cell based on focused-ion beam (FIB) technique has been proposed to evaluate the electrical property of the phase-change material. Thanks to the FIB-deposited SiO₂ hardmask, only one etching step has been used during the fabrication process of the cell. Reversible phase-change behaviors are observed in the line cells based on Al-Sb-Te and Ge-Sb-Te films. The low power consumption of the Al-Sb-Te based cell has been explained by theoretical calculation accompanying with thermal simulation. This line cell is considered to be a simple and reliable method in evaluating the application prospect of a certain phase-change material.