Thermal treatment of Ag/Ag-doped (Ge45 Te55) 0.7 N0.3 electrolyte films in switching characteristics of programmable metallization cell memory

A homogeneous incorporation of in situ deposited silver (Ag) nto (Ge45 Te55) 0.7 N0.3 (90 nm) chalcogenide films was achieved by an annealing at 300°C with different increasing rates of temperature. Slow increasing rates of temperature such as 30°Cmin and 60°Cmin induce a strong diffusion of Ge and Te into the silver layers and then exhibit an increase of surface roughness of silver as well as (Ge45 Te55) 0.7 N0.3 films. On the other hand, samples annealed with increasing rate of 300°Cmin show the most homogeneous distribution of Ag, Ge, and Te in both silver and silver-doped (Ge45 Te55) 0.7 N0.3 electrolyte layer. Programmable metallization cell devices with solid electrolytes annealed at an increasing rate of 300°Cmin were switched under positive (write) pulses of 2.5 V in magnitude (50 ns duration) and -3.5 V negative (erase) pulses (50 ns duration).