Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Materials science

Changing face of the chameleon

Nature volume 437, pages 1246–1247 (2005)Cite this article

Chalcogenide materials form the basis of CD and DVD technologies. But an identity crisis looms in the wider field: what role do atomic reconfiguration, electronic processes and ionic movement play in these materials?

The chalcogens — the elements in group VI of the periodic table, particularly sulphur (S), selenium (Se) and tellurium (Te) — react with more electropositive elements, such as silver, to form chalcogenides. These are chameleon compounds: they can be crystalline or amorphous, metallic or semiconducting, and conductors of ions or electrons. Already important in optical storage discs and fibres, they are now being proposed as the basis for solid-state memory technologies. Two recent conferences — EFootnote 1PCOS 05 in Cambridge * , UK, and Euromat 2005 in Prague † , Czech Republic — have demonstrated that devices using chalcogenides hinge on thermal and dynamic phenomena involving electronic, atomic and ionic processes. The links between these phenomena are not fully established, so unsuspected technological opportunities may well lie in store.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Two types of chalcogenide device.

Notes

  1. *European Symposium on Phase Change and Ovonic Science, Cambridge, 3–6 September 2005; http://www.epcos.org

  2. †Symposium on Memory Storage Materials. European Congress on Advanced Materials and Processes, 5–8 September 2005; http://www.euromat2005.fems.org/index.htm

References

  1. Ovshinsky, S. R. Phys. Rev. Lett. 21, 1450–1453 (1968).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Mott, N. F. in Nobel Lectures, Physics 1971–1980 (ed. Lundqvist, S.) 403–413 (World Scientific, Singapore, 1992); http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1977/mott-lecture.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  3. Adler, D. et al. J. Appl. Phys. 51, 3289–3309 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Vezzoli, G. C., Walsh, P. J. & Doremus, L. W. J. Non-Cryst. Solids 18, 333–375 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Strand, D. J. Optoelectron. Adv. Mater. 7, 1679–1690 (2005).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lankhorst, M. H. R. et al. Nature Mater. 4, 347–352 (2005).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Gibson, G. A. et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 051902 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ovshinsky, S. R. Jpn J. Appl. Phys. Pt 1 43 (7B), 4695–4699 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Terabe, K. et al. Nature 433, 47–50 (2005).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Kozicki, M. N., Park, M. & Mitkova, M. IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol. 4, 331–338 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK

    A. Lindsay Greer & Neil Mathur

Authors
  1. A. Lindsay Greer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Neil Mathur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Greer, A., Mathur, N. Changing face of the chameleon. Nature 437, 1246–1247 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/4371246a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/4371246a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing