GeTe is a promising material for PRAM applications due to it’s two different crystal structures; crystalline and amorphous, which have very different resistance and optical properties. GeTe has demonstrated the ability to have switching speeds approaching 1ns, but the properties are dependent on stoichiometry, which can be difficult to control.^1,2 While many GeTe films are formed using PVD or CVD, electrochemical methods offer a room temperature alternative with controlled stoichiometries.³ Using E-ALD, a deposition technique originating in the Stickney lab, alternating atomic layers of material can be electrochemically reduced onto the substrate creating smooth, epitaxial thin films. In the past, GeTe and GeSbTe films produced by this group have been Germanium rich due to the tendency of the chalcogenide, Tellurium, to reductively strip out of the film at the negative potentials needed to deposit Germanium. In this study, E-ALD is used to deposit the first atomic layers of GeTe onto a gold substrate.

References:

1. Physical Review B. 2006, 73, 045210.

2. Phys. Status Solidi B. 2012, 249, 10, 1939-1944.
3. Nanoscale Research Letters. 2015, 10, 432.