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Phase-change materials

Fast transformers

Nature Materials volume 11, pages 270–271 (2012)Cite this article

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The pronounced temperature dependence of crystal-growth speed in phase-change materials not only rationalizes their favourable characteristics for non-volatile memory applications, but also suggests a profound new insight into their fundamental properties.

Unravelling the mysteries of chocolate making, comprehending the formation of amethyst geodes, or producing advanced steels requires an understanding of the relevant crystallization phenomena. Phase-change materials pose a similar challenge. They can be rapidly and reversibly switched between the amorphous and crystalline states, which is accompanied by a significant change of their optical and electrical properties1. This renders these materials suitable for optical and electronic data-storage applications that require the structural transformation to occur extremely rapidly once the material is heated to sufficiently high temperatures. In a study of the crystallization dynamics at ultrahigh heating rates, reported in Nature Materials, Jiri Orava and colleagues now provide a new insight into our understanding of these fast transformations in phase-change materials that make them so attractive for memory devices2.

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Figure 1: Crystal-growth speeds.

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Affiliations

  1. Matthias Wuttig and Martin Salinga are at I. Physikalisches Institut (IA) and JARA-FIT, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany

    Matthias Wuttig & Martin Salinga

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  1. Matthias Wuttig
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  2. Martin Salinga
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Correspondence to Matthias Wuttig.

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Wuttig, M., Salinga, M. Fast transformers. Nature Mater 11, 270–271 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3288

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