2019 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit

Symposium EP08-Phase-Change Materials for Memories, Photonics, Neuromorphic and Emerging Application

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.

Topics will include:

  • Basic physical and chemical properties of phase change materials
  • Crystal growth and characterization of phase change materials
  • Application of phase change materials to PCRAM devices and optical storage
  • Phase change materials for neuromorphic and non-von Neumann computing
  • Phase-change materials in photonics and displays
  • Theory and Computer simulations of structural and electronic processes in phase change materials
  • Thermal properties of phase change materials
  • Device design, fabrication, integration, and performance
  • Stability and reliability of phase-change materials and devices
  • Selector and Ovonic technologies
  • Layered and superlattice phase-change materials
  • Topological insulating properties of phase-change materials
  • A tutorial complementing this symposium is tentatively planned.

Invited Speakers:

  • Marco Bernasconi (Universita’ of Milano-Bicocca, Italy)
  • Harish Bhaskaran (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
  • Raffaella Calarco (Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik Berlin, Germany)
  • Xianbin Li (Jilin University, China)
  • Arka Majumdar (University of Washington, USA)
  • Markus Morgenstern (RWTH Aachen University, Germany)
  • Eric Pop (Stanford University, USA)
  • Stefania Privitera (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy)
  • Clara Rivero-Baleine (Lockheed Martin, USA)
  • Robert E. Simpson (Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore)
  • Junji Tominaga (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan)
  • Nikolay I. Zheludev (University of Southampton, United Kingdom)

Symposium Organizers

Kotaro Makino
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Nanomaterials Research Institute
Japan

Marie-Claire Cyrille
CEA- LETI
France

Publishing Alliance

MRS publishes with Springer Nature