Unraveling the Atomic Structure of Bulk Binary Ga-Te Glasses with Surprising Nanotectonic Features for Phase-Change Memory Applications.

Binary Ge-Te and ternary Ge-Sb-Te systems belong to flagship phase-change materials (PCMs) and are used in nonvolatile memory applications and neuromorphic computing. The working temperatures of these PCMs are limited by low-T glass transition and crystallization phenomena. Promising high-T PCMs may include gallium tellurides; however, the atomic structure and transformation processes for amorphous Ga-Te binaries are simply missing. Using high-energy X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy supported by first-principles simulations, we elucidate the short- and intermediate-range order in bulk glassy GaxTe1-x, 0.17 ≤ x ≤ 0.25, following their thermal, electric, and optical properties, revealing a semiconductor-metal transition above melting. We also show that a phase change in binary Ga-Te is characterized by a very unusual nanotectonic compression with the high internal transition pressure reaching 4-8 GPa, which appears to be beneficial for PCM applications increasing optical and electrical contrast between the SET and RESET states and decreasing power consumption.