The thesis deals with the preparation, characterization and, in particular, with the switching properties of phase-change material (PCM) thin films. The films were deposited using the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique. Phase transformations in these films were triggered by means of thermal annealing, laser pulses, and electrical pulses. The five major physical aspects structure transformation, crystallization kinetics, topography, optical properties, and electrical properties have been investigated using XRD, TEM, SEM, AFM, DSC, UV-Vis spectroscopy, a custom-made nanosecond UV laser pump-probe system, in situ resistance measurements, and conductive-AFM. The systematic investigation of the ex situ thermally induced crystallization process of pure stoichiometric GeTe films and O-incorporating GeTe films provides detailed information on structure transformation, topography, crystallization kinetics, optical reflectivity and electrical resistivity. The results reveal a significant improvement of the thermal stability in PCM application for data storage. With the aim of reducing the switching energy consumption and to enhance the optical reflectivity contrast by improving the quality of the produced films, the growth of the GeTe films with simultaneous in situ thermal treatment was investigated with respect to optimizing the film growth conditions, e.g. growth temperature, substrate type. For the investigation of the fast phase transformation process, GeTe films were irradiated by ns UV laser pulses, tailoring various parameters such as pulse number, laser fluence, pulse repetition rate, and film thickness. Additionally, the investigation focused on the comparison of crystallization of GST thin films induced by either nano- or femtosecond single laser pulse irradiation, used to attain a high data transfer rate and to improve the understanding of the mechanisms of fast phase transformation. Non-volatile optical multilevel switching in GeTe phase-change films was identified to be feasible and accurately controllable at a timescale of nanoseconds, which is promising for high speed and high storage density of optical memory devices. Moreover, correlating the dynamics of the optical switching process and the structural information demonstrated not only exactly how fast phase change processes take place, but also, importantly, allowed the determination of the rapid kinetics of phase transformation on the microscopic scale. In the next step, a new general concept for the combination of PCRAM and ReRAM was developed. Bipolar electrical switching of PCM memory cells at the nanoscale can be achieved and improvements of the performance in terms of RESET/SET operation voltage, On/Off resistance ratio and cycling endurance are demonstrated. The original underlying mechanism was verified by the Poole-Frenkel conduction model. The polarity-dependent resistance switching processes can be visualized simultaneously by topography and current images. The local microstructure on the nanoscale of such memory cells and the corresponding local chemical composition were correlated. The gained results contribute to meeting the key challenges of the current understanding and of the development of PCMs for data storage applications, covering thin film preparation, thermal stability, signal-to-noise ratio, switching energy, data transfer rate, storage density, and scalability.

The thesis deals with the preparation, characterization and, in particular, with the switching properties of phase-change material (PCM) thin films. The films were deposited using the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique. Phase transformations in these films were triggered by means of thermal annealing, laser pulses, and electrical pulses. The five major physical aspects structure transformation, crystallization kinetics, topography, optical properties, and electrical properties have been investigated using XRD, TEM, SEM, AFM, DSC, UV-Vis spectroscopy, a custom-made nanosecond UV laser pump-probe system, in situ resistance measurements, and conductive-AFM. The systematic investigation of the ex situ thermally induced crystallization process of pure stoichiometric GeTe films and O-incorporating GeTe films provides detailed information on structure transformation, topography, crystallization kinetics, optical reflectivity and electrical resistivity. The results reveal a significant improvement of the thermal stability in PCM application for data storage. With the aim of reducing the switching energy consumption and to enhance the optical reflectivity contrast by improving the quality of the produced films, the growth of the GeTe films with simultaneous in situ thermal treatment was investigated with respect to optimizing the film growth conditions, e.g. growth temperature, substrate type. For the investigation of the fast phase transformation process, GeTe films were irradiated by ns UV laser pulses, tailoring various parameters such as pulse number, laser fluence, pulse repetition rate, and film thickness. Additionally, the investigation focused on the comparison of crystallization of GST thin films induced by either nano- or femtosecond single laser pulse irradiation, used to attain a high data transfer rate and to improve the understanding of the mechanisms of fast phase transformation. Non-volatile optical multilevel switching in GeTe phase-change films was identified to be feasible and accurately controllable at a timescale of nanoseconds, which is promising for high speed and high storage density of optical memory devices. Moreover, correlating the dynamics of the optical switching process and the structural information demonstrated not only exactly how fast phase change processes take place, but also, importantly, allowed the determination of the rapid kinetics of phase transformation on the microscopic scale. In the next step, a new general concept for the combination of PCRAM and ReRAM was developed. Bipolar electrical switching of PCM memory cells at the nanoscale can be achieved and improvements of the performance in terms of RESET/SET operation voltage, On/Off resistance ratio and cycling endurance are demonstrated. The original underlying mechanism was verified by the Poole-Frenkel conduction model. The polarity-dependent resistance switching processes can be visualized simultaneously by topography and current images. The local microstructure on the nanoscale of such memory cells and the corresponding local chemical composition were correlated. The gained results contribute to meeting the key challenges of the current understanding and of the development of PCMs for data storage applications, covering thin film preparation, thermal stability, signal-to-noise ratio, switching energy, data transfer rate, storage density, and scalability.