Strategies to reduce the incubation time for crystal nucleation and thus the stochasticity of the set process are of relevance for the operation of phase change memories in ultra- scaled geometries. With these premises, in this work we investigate the crystallization kinetics of the phase change compound GeTe. We have performed large scale molecular dynamics simulations using an interatomic potential, generated previously from a neural network fitting of a database of ab initio energies. We have addressed the crystallization of models of amorphous GeTe annealed at different temperatures above the glass transition. The results on the distribution of subcritical nuclei and on the crystal growth velocity of postcritical ones are compared with our previous simulations of the supercooled liquid quenched from the melt. We find that a large population of subcritical nuclei can form at the lower temperatures where the nucleation rate is large. This population partially survives upon fast annealing, which leads to a dramatic reduction of the incubation time at high temperatures where the crystal growth velocity is maximal. This priming effect could be exploited to enhance the speed of the set process in phase change memories.

Gabardi, S., Sosso, G., Behler, J., Bernasconi, M. (2018). Priming effects in the crystallization of the phase change compound GeTe from atomistic simulations. Intervento presentato a: Faraday Discussion: "New memory paradigms: memristive phenomena and neuromorphic applications", Aachen (D).

Priming effects in the crystallization of the phase change compound GeTe from atomistic simulations

Gabardi, S;Bernasconi, M
2018

Abstract

Strategies to reduce the incubation time for crystal nucleation and thus the stochasticity of the set process are of relevance for the operation of phase change memories in ultra- scaled geometries. With these premises, in this work we investigate the crystallization kinetics of the phase change compound GeTe. We have performed large scale molecular dynamics simulations using an interatomic potential, generated previously from a neural network fitting of a database of ab initio energies. We have addressed the crystallization of models of amorphous GeTe annealed at different temperatures above the glass transition. The results on the distribution of subcritical nuclei and on the crystal growth velocity of postcritical ones are compared with our previous simulations of the supercooled liquid quenched from the melt. We find that a large population of subcritical nuclei can form at the lower temperatures where the nucleation rate is large. This population partially survives upon fast annealing, which leads to a dramatic reduction of the incubation time at high temperatures where the crystal growth velocity is maximal. This priming effect could be exploited to enhance the speed of the set process in phase change memories.
abstract + slide
phase change memories, molecular dynamics simulations, neural networks
English
Faraday Discussion: "New memory paradigms: memristive phenomena and neuromorphic applications"
2018
2018
none
Gabardi, S., Sosso, G., Behler, J., Bernasconi, M. (2018). Priming effects in the crystallization of the phase change compound GeTe from atomistic simulations. Intervento presentato a: Faraday Discussion: "New memory paradigms: memristive phenomena and neuromorphic applications", Aachen (D).
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/218203
Citazioni
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
Social impact