Role of ge switch in phase transition: Approach using atomically controlled GeTe/Sb₂Te₃ superlattice

Germanium-antimony-tellurite (GST) is a very attractive material not only for rewritable optical media but also for realizing solid state devices. Recently, the study of the switching mechanism between the amorphous and crystal states has actively been carried out experimentally and theoretically. Now, the role of the flip-flop transition of a Ge atom in a distorted simple-cubic unit cell is the center of discussion. Turning our viewpoint towards a much wider region beyond a unit cell, we can understand that GeSbTe consists of two units: one is a Sb?Te3 layer and the other is a Ge2Te2 layer. On the based of this simple model, we fabricated the superlattice of GST alloys and estimated their thermal properties by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In this paper, we discuss the proof of the Ge switch on the basis of thermo-histories.