Negative differential resistance of new Sb<inf>2</inf>Te<inf>3</inf>/carbon as a new memory device diode

Abstract

Thin films of Sb2Te3 were prepared using thermal evaporation technique on carbon as a new design memory device. X-ray pattern showed that Sb2Te3 is amorphous material with very small intensity peaks corresponding to Sb2Te3 phase. Both the device resistance and its current-voltage under different temperature were measured. The conduction activation energy δER was calculated from the temperature dependence of the device resistance. The static I-V characteristic curves of Sb2Te3/carbon diode showed a typical memory switching behavior. The mean values of threshold voltage V th and the threshold electrical field Eth were decreased exponentially with increasing temperature. The value of switching activation energy ε was calculated. The obtained value of this ratio (ε/δER) equals to 2.046 supporting the thermal model for describing the switching mechanism inside Sb2T3/carbon memory diode. Sb2T3/carbon is a good candidate for a simple memory device. © 2014 Pushpa Publishing House.