Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences - Department of Physics

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences | Department of Physics | Colloquium | Colloquia | Habilitandenkolloquium: Dr. Mykhaylo P. Semtsiv (HU, Institut für Physik)

Habilitandenkolloquium: Dr. Mykhaylo P. Semtsiv (HU, Institut für Physik)

Lecture on "Phase Change Materials"
  • When Jun 29, 2021 from 03:15 to 05:00
  • Where Zoom
  • iCal

Habilitandenkolloquium: Dr. Mykhaylo P. Semtsiv (HU, Institut für Physik) will speak about " Phase Change Materials and non-volatile memory application ".

The colloquium lecture will be held virtually using Zoom. The registration data will be sent out in advance via the usual mail distribution lists or can be requested at gd-at-physik.hu-berlin.de.

 

Abstract

Mankind is used to exploit phase transitions for various purposes of everyday life. Ice is used since ages for cooling purposes, wax-like materials are used in modern energy-saving housing for heat storage, and heating pads are widely used for body comfort in cold environment.

A particular phase-change transition was discovered in chalcogenide glasses by Stanford R. Ovshinsky back in 1968. It is a transition from the amorphous phase into polycrystalline and vice versa as a result of a short heat treatment by electrical current pulse. The strong contrast in the resistivity between amorphous and crystalline states allows for the electrical determination of the phase and thus for use of such a phenomenon in memory elements with electrical readout of the stored data. The new non-volatile storage-class 3D-XPoint memory chips mass-produced jointly by Intel and Micron since 2015 are based on the very same phenomenon.

In this talk we will review the physics of the phase transition in chalcogenide glasses, the history of their invention, and the modern applications.