Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of conformal GeTe layer for phase change memory applications

Phase-change memory is one of the most promising technologies for the future non-volatile memories generation and the synthesis of highly conformal active material is one of the main challenges. Herein, we report the successful chemical vapor deposition of phase change materials conducted using original plasma enhanced pulsed liquid injection system. Smooth, conformal and amorphous as well crystalline GeTe layers were grown on large surfaces. Their phase-change characteristics present fast switch from amorphous to crystalline phases with high optical contrast between the two states. These properties are similar to those of sputtered films used in electronic devices. Moreover, thanks to appropriate process tuning, material structure and phase change properties can be tuned.