The Influence of Nitrogen Doping on the Chemical and Local Bonding Environment of Amorphous and Crystalline Ge₂Sb₂Te₅

Abstract

Recent interest in phase change materials (PCMs) for non-volatile memory applications has been fueled by the promise of scalability beyond the limit of conventional DRAM and NAND flash memory [1]. However, for such solid state device applications, Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 (GST), GeSb, and other chalcogenide PCMs require doping. Doping favorably modifies crystallization speed, crystallization temperature, and thermal stability but the chemical role of the dopant is not yet fully understood. In this work, X-ray Absorption Fine Spectroscopy (XAFS) is used to examine the chemical and structural role of nitrogen doping (N-) in as-deposited and crystalline GST thin films. The study focuses on the chemical and local bonding environment around each of the elements in the sample, in pre and post-anneal states, and at various doping concentrations. We conclude that the nitrogen dopant forms stable Ge-N bonds as deposited, which is distinct from GST bonds, and remain at the grain boundary of the crystallites such that the annealed film is comprised of crystallites with a dopant rich grain boundary.

Structurally-Tuned Nitrogen-Doped Cerium Oxide Exhibits Exceptional Regenerative Free Radical Scavenging Activity in Polymer Electrolytes

“…The CeO 2 lattice was tuned by doping it with nitrogen atoms to modify the surface composition (concentration of Ce 3+ ). [56][57][58][59] Since this doping process required a high-temperature annealing step, the resultant nitrogen-doped (N-doped) CeO 2 samples had much lower surface areas and exhibited poor microstructure stability, leading to loss of active Ce 3+ active clusters upon exposure to ROS. To overcome this deficiency, high-surface-area CeO 2 nanoparticles were synthesized in-house and subsequently N-doped to yield samples with high surface area and excellent microstructure stability.…”