Phase-change materials have interesting properties that arise from structural phase transition and hence are promising candidates for various kind of important applications such as electrical and optical memories, photonics, displays, ovonic threshold switch selectors, RF switching and non-von Neumann computing. Understanding and exploiting of significant contrasts in electrical and optical properties caused by rapid phase switching are key for further applications. The typical phase-change materials are chalcogenide alloys such as GeTe, Ge-Sb-Te, and Ag-In-Sb-Te 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 phases.

The current technological issues, in terms of memory devices and other applications, are device integration, device architectures, realization of high-density and multilevel data storage, and reliability issues. To overcome these issues and further development, basic understandings of phase change materials, e.g. the phase change kinetics, the relationship between structures and properties, and the bonding nature, are also required. In addition, new class of applications, such as Neuromorphic engineering, RF switch, display, and plasmonics are meaningful research topics.

This symposium will cover advances in various kind of applications as well as in basic 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 epitaxy memory optical optoelectronic simulation sputtering storage thermoelectric