Pressure-Induced Site-Selective Disordering of Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5}: A New Insight into Phase-Change Optical Recording

We demonstrate that Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5}, the material of choice in phase-change optical recording (such as DVD-RAM), can be rendered amorphous by the application of hydrostatic pressure. It is argued that this structural change is due to a very strong second-nearest-neighbor Te-Te interactio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2006-07, Vol.97 (3)
Main Authors: Kolobov, A. V., Laboratoire de Physicochimie de la Matiere Condensee, UMR CNRS 5617, Universite Montpellier II, Place Eugene Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, Haines, J., Pradel, A., Ribes, M., Fons, P., Tominaga, J., Katayama, Y., Hammouda, T., Uruga, T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AMORPHOUS STATE
ANTIMONY COMPOUNDS
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
GERMANIUM COMPOUNDS
INTERACTIONS
MEMORY DEVICES
TELLURIUM COMPOUNDS
VACANCIES
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Summary:We demonstrate that Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5}, the material of choice in phase-change optical recording (such as DVD-RAM), can be rendered amorphous by the application of hydrostatic pressure. It is argued that this structural change is due to a very strong second-nearest-neighbor Te-Te interaction that determines the long-range order in the metastable cubic phase of Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} and also to the presence of vacancies. This newly discovered phenomenon suggests that pressure is an important factor for the formation of the amorphous phase which opens new insight into the mechanism of phase-change optical recording.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.97.035701