Kinetic analysis of crystallization processes in In60Se40 thin films for phase change memory (Pram) applications

Abstract

In the present work, a systematic investigation of crystallization kinetics of In60Se40 alloy has been made. Thin films of In60Se40 were prepared by thermal evaporation using Edward Auto 306 evaporation system. Electrical measurements at room temperature and upon annealing at different heating were done by four point probe method using Keithley 2400 source meter interfaced with computer using Lab view software. the dependence of sheet resistance on temperature showed a sudden drop in resistance at a specific temperature corresponding to the transition temperature at which the alloy change from armorphous to crystalline. The transition temperature was also found to increase with the heating rates. From the heating rate dependence of peak crystallization temperature (Tp) the activation energy for crystallization was determined using the Kissinger analysis. The films were found to have an electrical contrast of about 6 orders of magnitude between the as-deposited and the annealed states, a good quality for PRAM applications. The activation energies were determined to be 0.354±0.018eV