Non-aqueous electrodeposition of functional semiconducting metal chalcogenides: Ge2Sb2Te5 phase change memory

Abstract

We report a new method for electrodeposition of device-quality metal chalcogenide semiconductor thin films and nanostructures from a single, highly tuneable, non-aqueous electrolyte. This method opens up the prospect of electrochemical preparation of a wide range of functional semiconducting metal chalcogenide alloys that have applications in various nano-technology areas, ranging from the electronics industry to thermoelectric devices and photovoltaic materials. The functional operation of the new method is demonstrated by means of its application to deposit the technologically important ternary Ge/Sb/Te alloy, GST-225, for fabrication of nanostructured phase change memory (PCM) devices and the quality of the material is confirmed by phase cycling via electrical pulsed switching of both the nano-cells and thin films.