Electrical Set-Reset Phenomenon in Thallium Doped Ge-Te Glasses Suitable for Phase Change Memory Applications

Ge17Te83-xTlx (x = 2, 3, 6, 8, 10) glasses have been prepared by melt quenching method and their amorphous nature was confirmed by XRD spectra. I-V characteristics and repeatability of electrical switching were investigated for all the glasses in order to find out their suitability for phase change memory applications. A comparison has been given with Ge2Sb2Te5 the most commonly used material for phase change memory application. The entire series of glasses exhibited memory type of electrical switching but only the composition Ge17Te81Tl2 was able to withstand SET-RESET pulses for more than 10 cycles. The other samples show repeatability for only a few cycles with the degradation of threshold voltage.