Study of Ge‐Rich Ge–Sb–Te Device‐Dependent Segregation for Industrial Grade Embedded Phase‐Change Memory

Abstract

Ge‐rich Ge–Sb–Te (GGST) alloys are the most promising materials for phase‐change memory in embedded applications, being able to fulfill the tough data retention requirements of automotive and consumer markets. GGST alloys are sensitive to thermal budgets and spatial confinement; thus, memory device process integration and architecture can strongly impact their final electrical properties and reliability. Herein, exploiting a statistical methodology capable to extract quantitative metrics for evaluating by‐process segregation, the inhomogeneity of out‐of‐fab GGST material in function of process parameters is studied such as architecture and alloy composition. The present results with the already known source of segregation, namely the back‐end‐of‐line thermal budget, are compared providing a comprehensive description of the main modulating factors of segregation among these different process parameters.