Call for Papers

Please contact the symposium organizers with questions.

Chalcogenide phase change materials (PCMs) based random access memory (PCRAM) is one of the leading candidates for non-volatile memory and neuro-inspired computing technologies. The former combines the advantages of non-volatility and fast operation speed, thus making the distinction between data storage and memory obsolete. The latter unifies computing with storage in a single cell, marking a shift to non-von Neumann computing architectures. Owing to the significant contrast in both electrical resistance and optical reflectivity between amorphous and crystalline phases, PCMs are suitable for both electronic and photonic applications. The strong change in electronic and optical properties stems from the change in the degree of disorder and bonding mechanisms. The switching between the two solid states is achieved by rapid and reversible phase transitions, namely, crystallization for SET (write) and amorphization for RESET (erase), of phase change materials. PCRAM has become technologically mature with recently released competitive electronic memory products. However, to further improve the performance of PCRAM to compete with DRAM and even SRAM in terms of switching speed / power consumption, and storage capacity / data retention of NAND Flash memory, massive efforts are required from both fundamental research of the material properties, and device design and engineering. Neuro-inspired computing and non-volatile photonic applications based on PCMs are still at their early research stage and are under very active development. We aim at making the symposium a great platform that allows exchange of ideas and information, which will push forward the development of novel PCM-based electronic and photonic devices.

Topics will include:

• Physics and materials science of phase change materials
• Materials design principles and machine-learning techniques
• Crystallization kinetics of phase change materials
• Optical and thermal properties of phase change materials
• Metal-Insulator transition and disorder-induced phenomenon
• Resistance drift phenomenon and multi-level storage
• Superlattice and van der Waals heterostructure
• Atomic imaging and modelling of phase change materials
• Topological phases of phase-change materials
• Phase-change materials in photonics and displays
• Device engineering and design of PCRAM devices
• Threshold switching effect and selector devices
• Neuro-inspired computing devices
• Processing issues in device fabrication
• Device integration and performance

• A tutorial complementing this symposium is tentatively planned.

Invited Speakers:

• Marco Bernasconi (Universita’ of Milano-Bicocca, Italy)
• Stefania Privitera (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy)
• Jaakko Akola (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway)
• Fabrizio Arciprete (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy)
• Valeria Bragaglia (IBM Research-Zurich, Switzerland)
• Huai-Yu Cheng (Macronix International Co. Ltd., USA)
• Jeffrey Chou (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
• Stephen Elliott (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
• Paul Fons (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan)
• Andriy Lotnyk (Leibniz Institute of Surface Engineering, Germany)
• Kotaro Makino (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan)
• Xiangshui Miao (Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China)
• Ann-Katrin U. Michel (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)
• Wolfram Pernice (University of Münster, Germany)
• Zhitang Song (Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, China)
• Zhimei Sun (Beihang University, China)
• Douglas Werner (The Pennsylvania State University, USA)
• Peter Zalden (European XFEL, Germany)
• Linjie Zhou (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China)

Symposium Organizers