AUTHOR=Petroni Elisa , Serafini Andrea , Codegoni Davide , Targa Paolo , Mariani Luca , Scuderi Mario , Nicotra Giuseppe , Redaelli Andrea 

TITLE=Metrics for Quantification of By-Process Segregation in Ge-Rich GST

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2022.862954

DOI=10.3389/fphy.2022.862954

ISSN=2296-424X

ABSTRACT=Ge-rich GST alloys are the most promising materials for phase-change memory (PCM) to fulfill the soldering compliance and the tough data retention requirements of automotive applications. Big efforts have been thus put to engineer those materials and optimize their integration inside the fabrication process of PCM. In this perspective, the physical characterization of the device and the material is instrumental to understand the underlying physics, to improve the process and optimize the interactions between the device, the process, and the material itself. Especially, microscopic investigations have gathered increasing interest, giving detailed descriptions of local material modulations that have a crucial role for cell programming and reliability performances. In this work, a deep analysis of Ge-rich GST microscopic alloy evolution during integration process has been performed, exploiting chemical analysis at Transmission Electronic Microscope supported by a novel statistical data post-processing method. The new proposed statistical-based methodology also introduces new simple metrics for elemental compositional evaluations that have been exploited for process engineering.