Structural, vibrational and electronic properties in the glass-crystal transition of thin films Sb70Te30 doped with Sn

Abstract Antimony-telluride based phase-change materials doped with Sn have been proposed to be ideal materials for improving the performance of phase-change memories. It is well known that Sb70Te30 thin films show a sharp fall in the electrical resistance in a narrow temperature range when heating. Therefore, it is interesting to study the effect of adding Sn into this composition. In this work, undoped and Sn-doped Sb–Te thin films of composition Snx[Sb0.70Te0.30]100-x, with x = 0.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 at. %, have been obtained by pulsed laser deposition. Their electrical resistance has been measured while heating from room temperature to 650 K. A sharp fall in the electrical resistance, as…