Solution-Based Engineering of Nanodimensional Phase-Change Materials and Memory Devices

2026-07-22

Phase-change memory (PCM) is a recently-commercialized next-generation memory storage technology that provides a sustainable solution to exponentially-growing memory storage demands of modern society. It is based on resistively switched structural changes of memory cell upon local crystallization and melting phase transitions, resulting in amorphous or crystalline atomic structures with distinctly different “0” and “1” resistance states. PCM is faster and more durable than state-of-the-art non-volatile memory devices like silicon-based solid-state drives (SSD), and it can furthermore be scaled in all three dimensions. However, there are open challenges for PCM technology, such as large power consumption and high price of PCM devices, which stem from large dimensions of memory cells, complex fabrication process, and from use of material-inefficient sputtering and etching fabrication steps for the expensive PCM layer. This proposal addresses the open challenges and enables further development of PCM technology by applying solution-based engineering. Our goals are (i) to develop robust synthetic approaches for PCM materials, such as ternary tellurides and antimony-rich compositions, in the form of colloidal nanoparticles and molecular ink precursors; (ii) to thoroughly study how PCM properties change at the nanoscale as a function of size, thickness, and composition; and (iii) to employ these phase-change nanomaterials in solution-processed PCM arrays to build new, ultrasmall PCM configurations as well as multilayer PCM cells and to reduce their price and power consumption.

Switzerland

2026-02-01