Nanopatterned Phase-Change Materials for High-Speed, Continuous
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NANOPATTERNED PHASE-CHANGE MATERIALS FOR HIGH-SPEED, CONTINUOUS PHASE MODULATION Thesis Submitted to The School of Engineering of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Master of Science in Electrical Engineering By Andrea E. Aboujaoude Dayton, Ohio December, 2018 NANOPATTERNED PHASE-CHANGE MATERIALS FOR HIGH-SPEED, CONTINUOUS PHASE MODULATION Name: Aboujaoude, Andrea E. APPROVED BY: Joseph W. Haus, Ph.D. Imad Agha, Ph.D. Advisor Committee Chairman Committee Member Professor, Electro-Optics and Photonics Assistant Professor, Physics, Electro-Optics and Photonics Andrew Sarangan, Ph.D. Joshua Hendrickson, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member Professor, Electro-Optics and Photonics Senior Research Physicist, AFRL, Sensors Directorate Robert J. Wilkens, Ph.D., P.E. Eddy M. Rojas, Ph.D., M.A., P.E. Associate Dean for Research and Innovation Dean, School of Engineering School of Engineering ii © Copyright by Andrea E. Aboujaoude All rights reserved 2018 ABSTRACT NANOPATTERNED PHASE-CHANGE MATERIALS FOR HIGH-SPEED, CONTINUOUS PHASE MODULATION Name: Aboujaoude, Andrea E. University of Dayton Advisor: Dr. Joseph W. Haus The project explores the vastly different opto-electronic properties of GST in two different phases: amorphous and FCC crystalline. The eventual goal is to design and fabricate photonic devices whose functionality depends on the distinct material properties of the two phases of GST. A prototypical device structure was designed with a lattice of GST nanorods grown on a Silicon substrate. The GST nanorods are surrounded by a thermally conductive material, such as Boron Nitride, that rapidly quenches the nanorods during the phase change. An electrical contract on top of the device is used to initiate the GST phase transition. Simulations for this device design are used to explore the range of values needed for nanorod dimensions and applied voltages to control the phase transitions, as well as determine the effectiveness of the material surrounding the nanorod. Preliminary experiments are conducted to characterize the resistivity and sheet resistance of the GST samples and contact resistance between different GST phases and the contact metals, Tung- sten and Molybdenum. The measured contact resistances and calculated sheet resistances for the two metals are comparable. iii For my parents, Elias and Hilda, for teaching me that Not all things worthwhile come easy; for Mariana, for Always being Two steps ahead of me and Guiding me on my way through life; for Nicole, for showing me what Neverending determination can Actually Bring; and for Ayesha, for Being a True friend and my unwavering Support for all matters big and small. Thank you all for being in my life. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Joseph Haus and Dr. Imad Agha for being my advisers and Dr. Joshua Hendrickson for being my DAGSI sponsor. Thank you for your support through my proposal and masters project. I would like to thank Joshua Burrow for his work on the sample fabrication, the contact resis- tance measurements, and the SEM image for the contact resistance test sample, as well as taking the time to train me on the sputtering tool and answer my many questions on the fabrication process. I would also like to thank Gary Sevison for his work on the experimental setup and his assistance with gathering experimental data. Thank you to David Lombardo for training me on the lithography machine and for offering his insight into the lithography process. Also, thank you to Pengfei Guo for the GST resistance measurements. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their endless support and love throughout my college career and especially over the past year. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT........................................................................ iii DEDICATION . iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . v LIST OF FIGURES . viii LIST OF TABLES . xi I. INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 History of Phase-Change Materials. 1 1.2 Project Objectives . 4 1.3 Thesis Overview . 4 II. THEORY..................................................................... 5 2.1 GeSbTe.................................................................. 5 2.2 Materials Explored . 8 2.3 Effective Medium Theory . 10 2.4 Effects of Convection . 12 2.5 Electrical Resistance . 14 2.6 Temperature and Quenching Time Goals . 19 III. SIMULATIONS . 21 3.1 Model Setups . 21 3.2 Single Rod and Array Results . 25 3.3 Effects of Nanorod Radius and Height . 30 3.4 Effects of Different Materials . 31 3.5 Conclusions . 32 IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUPS . 34 4.1 Optical Setup . 34 4.2 Electrical Setup . 37 4.3 Preliminary Experiments . 38 V. SAMPLE FABRICATION . 41 5.1 Deposition of Metal Contacts . 41 5.2 Deposition of GST Test Areas . 44 vi VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS. 47 6.1 GST Resistivity Measurements . 47 6.2 Contact Resistance Measurements . 49 6.3 Optical Switching Experimentation . 53 VII. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK . 54 7.1 Conclusions . 54 7.2 Future Work . 55 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 57 APPENDICES A. Matlab Code For Nanorod Height Calculations . 62 B. Matlab Code For Impedance Matching Calculations . 65 C. Select Model Dimensions . 67 D. Select Material Properties . 68 E. Array Model Results . 72 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Cross-sectional View of Basic Optical Disk. 3 2.1 GeTe–Sb2Te3 Pseudobinary Phase Diagram. 5 2.2 Atomic Structure of the FCC Crystalline GST Phase.. 6 2.3 n and κ values of GST. 7 2.4 Atomic Structure of GST During Phase Change. 8 2.5 Boundary Layer Caused by Convection.. 13 2.6 Diagram of Four–Point Probe Setup. 15 2.7 Simplified Side and Top Views of One Nanorod. 17 2.8 Circuit Equivalent of Device. 17 2.9 Temperature Requirements for Crystallization and Amorphization. 20 3.1 Single Rod Simulation Model. 22 3.2 Array Simulation Model. 23 3.3 Input Voltage Pulse for Amorphous to Crystalline Phase Change. 24 3.4 Input Voltage Pulse for Crystalline to Amorphous Phase Change. 24 3.5 Amorphous GST with BN and W contacts (Horizontal View). 26 3.6 Amorphous GST with BN and W contacts (Vertical View). 26 3.7 Crystalline GST with BN and W contacts (Horizontal View). 27 3.8 Crystalline GST with BN and W contacts (Vertical View). ..