Determination of the parameters of diffusion and unsteady filament currents in a cylindrical chalcogenide glassy semiconductor

Abstract

For the Ge-Sb-Te system, the heat equation describing the current filament in the cylindrical semiconductor plate is approximately solved. The scale of the lateral current flowing perpendicular to the filament is estimated. It is shown that for the infinitely long times, the current in the filament is proportional to the square of the maximum temperature at the centre of the filament and inversely proportional to the applied electric field. It is established that the lateral current is small as compared to the current flowing in the filament, so the occurrence of lateral filaments growing from the main filament is unlikely.