Date of Completion

1-13-2016

Embargo Period

9-27-2016

Keywords

melting, crystallization, Si, GST, Ge2Sb2Te5, phase change, memory, PCM, oscillator

Major Advisor

Ali Gokirmak

Associate Advisor

Helena Silva

Associate Advisor

Rajeev Bansal

Field of Study

Electrical Engineering

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Open Access

Open Access

Abstract

Recent technological advances in fabrication processes have allowed for the production of solid-state devices with dimensions as small as ~10 nm. Improving the functionality and efficiency of these devices must come from new technologies and fabrication processes. In this work, two device technologies which are driven by the thermal processes of melting and crystallization are studied in detail. A novel oscillator device concept is explored in which a Si micro-/nanowire exhibits relaxation oscillations as it switches between solid and liquid phases, resulting in large amplitude current pulses. Phase change memory (PCM), a non-volatile memory technology that shows promising scaling and performance to compete with flash memory technology, is also studied through modeling of device performance and a critical fabrication process step.

This dissertation demonstrates the interesting phenomenon of a nanoscale Si solid-liquid phase-change oscillator and pulse generator, and that the frequency can be controlled or tuned by various parameters as is demonstrated experimentally and verified with simulations. Simulation results also suggest that the devices have strong scalability into the nanometer scale as electrical breakdown of silicon is expected to be a significant factor, allowing for faster melting of the nanowire and oscillation frequencies >1 GHz.

Electrical performance of PCM devices with various geometries and load conditions is analyzed using finite element modeling with temperature dependent parameters, demonstrating the impact of load conditions and incremental geometry variations. This dissertation also discusses a model for crystallization of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) which is able to simulate the crystallization of an arbitrarily shaped GST nanostructure during any annealing conditions or electrical device operation, developed in collaboration with fellow group member Zachary Woods. A model for void formation is developed and incorporated into the crystallization model, as voids occur during crystallization due to the density change between amorphous and crystalline phases. This model offers the utility of capturing the nanoscale phenomena of incubation, nucleation, growth and void formation in GST, and closely agrees with various experiments performed at IBM and elsewhere in the literature.

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