SiC-Doped Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ Phase-Change Material: A Candidate for High-Density Embedded Memory Application

Phase-change memory is one of the most attractive solutions for embedded applications, thanks to the low cost of integration with current manufacturing processes and the good scaling behavior. Despite intensive research efforts that are devoted to the modification of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) phase-change material, the obtained improvements are still unsatisfactory for high-performance applications. In this paper, SiC-modification is first introduced to enhance the amorphous stability of GST without sacrificing its transition speed. Several enhancements can be demonstrated, including better thermal stability (10-year data retention above 120 °C), lower RESET voltage (about 3.0 V at 20 ns pulse width), reduced volume change (smaller than 3.0%), and expected operation cycles (more than 1.0 × 10⁵). According to the findings, the local bonding nature of Ge/Te atoms can be tuned by C/Si dopants through forming CGe and SiTe bonds. Apart from strengthening the atomic binding network for desirable data retention, the element interdiffusion is also effectively controlled and suppressed. Together with finer grains, smaller density change, and more uniform morphology, the modified structure transition finally contributes to the reduced switching voltage and long-term endurance. Hence, it is envisaged that SiC-doped GST with such advantages will give a competitive option for high-density and high-performance embedded memory.