Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the structure and electrical properties of eutectic Sb_7.4Te_92.6 as made thin films to evaluate their potentiality for application to non-volatile phase-change memories.

Design/methodology/approach

The films were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition technique. The films were characterized by using X-ray diffraction in grazing-incident geometry, differential scanning calorimetry, Raman spectroscopy and transversal current.voltage curves.

Findings

The memory effect state, characteristic of a typical phase-change memory material, was observed. The temperature of crystallization was about 100ºC.

Research limitations/implications

Further studies on endurance, scaling and SET/RESET operations are needed.

Practical implications

One of the main characteristic values, the hold voltage and the threshold voltage values, were about 0.85 and 1.2.V, respectively, in a line with those of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅, GeTe and Sb₂Te being considered to date as the main compounds for phase-change memory devices.

Originality/value

The conduction mechanism in the amorphous regime is highly agreed with the Poole.Frenkel effect in deep traps.