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Ultra-high-density phase-change storage and memory

Nature Materials volume 5, pages 383–387 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Phase-change storage is widely used in optical information technologies (DVD, CD-ROM and so on), and recently it has also been considered for non-volatile memory applications. This work reports advances in thermal data recording of phase-change materials. Specifically, we show erasable thermal phase-change recording at a storage density of 3.3 Tb inch−2, which is three orders of magnitude denser than that currently achievable with commercial optical storage technologies. We demonstrate the concept of a thin-film nanoheater to realize ultra-small heat spots with dimensions of less than 50 nm. Finally, we show in a proof-of-concept demonstration that an individual thin-film heater can write, erase and read the phase of these storage materials at competitive speeds. This work provides important stepping stones for a very-high-density storage or memory technology based on phase-change materials.

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Figure 1: Thermal recording of ultra-high-density phase-change bit patterns.
Figure 2: Ultra-high-density phase-change bit patterns.
Figure 3: Nanoheater thermal properties.
Figure 4: An all-thermal memory/storage concept.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Wuttig and S. Raoux for helpful discussions about phase-change material properties. We also thank J. Chey for his assistance with sample preparation.

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Author notes

  1. H. Kumar Wickramasinghe

    Present address: IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California, 95120, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, 10598, USA

    Hendrik F. Hamann, Martin O'Boyle, Yves C. Martin, Michael Rooks & H. Kumar Wickramasinghe

  2. Hendrik F. Hamann

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  1. Hendrik F. Hamann
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Correspondence to Hendrik F. Hamann.

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Supplementary discussions and figures S1 - S6 (PDF 467 kb)

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Hamann, H., O'Boyle, M., Martin, Y. et al. Ultra-high-density phase-change storage and memory. Nature Mater 5, 383–387 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1627

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