Phase change materials, thanks to their remarkable properties, are interesting candidates for emerging applications in memories, photonics, displays, ovonic threshold switch selectors and non-von Neumann computing. Distinct optical and electrical properties can be obtained by rapid switching between different structural phases, by employing sub-nanosecond laser or electric pulses and involving nanoscale volumes of phase change materials. Typical phase change materials are chalcogenide alloys, containing Te, Se or S, but other non-chalcogenide compositions, such as GaSb or VO₂ also exhibit reversible phase transitions, with high contrast in macroscopic properties, depending on the structural phase.

The successfull employment of phase change materials in a broad range of applications, however, implies the overcoming of a number of challenges, such as device integration issues, novel device architectures, increase in the storage density, multilevel data storage and reliability issues. Solutions require technological advances, materials engineering, for example by strain, interfaces or doping optimization, but also a deeper understanding of the fundamental material physics and of the mechanisms determining the peculiar properties of phase change materials..

This symposium will cover advances in devices for optical and electronic applications as well as in materials science. It will bring together the technological and scientific communities, being of interest to electronics and process engineers, physicists, chemists and materials scientists working on emerging electronics, including novel nanoscale integration with 2D materials, nanophotonics and plasmonics. The symposium is designed to be a synergistic event that allows exchange of novel ideas and knowledge-base to propel progress in this important scientific field.

alloy amorphous crystal layered memory metal-insulator transition phase transformation simulation storage thermoelectric