Viscosity, breakdown of Stokes-Einstein relation and dynamical heterogeneity in supercooled liquid Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ from simulations with a neural network potential

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Hauptverfasser: Marcorini, Simone, Pomodoro, Rocco, Kheir, Omar Abou El, Bernasconi, Marco
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Marcorini, Simone
Pomodoro, Rocco
Kheir, Omar Abou El
Bernasconi, Marco
author_facet Marcorini, Simone
Pomodoro, Rocco
Kheir, Omar Abou El
Bernasconi, Marco
contents Phase change materials are exploited in non-volatile electronic memories and photonic devices that rely on a fast and reversible transformation between the amorphous and crystalline phase upon heating. The recrystallization of the amorphous phase at the operation conditions of the memories occurs in the supercooled liquid phase above the glass transition temperature $T_g$. The dynamics of the supercooled liquid is thus of great relevance for the operation of the devices and, close to $T_g$, also for the structural relaxations of the glass that affect the performances of the memories. Information on the atomic dynamics is provided by the diffusion coefficient ($D$) and by the viscosity ($η$) which are, however, both difficult to be measured experimentally at the operation conditions of the devices due to the fast crystallization. In this work, we leverage a machine learning interatomic potential for the flagship phase change compound compound Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ to compute $η$, $D$ and the $α$-relaxation time in a wide temperature range from 1200 K to about 100 K above $T_g$. Large scale molecular dynamics simulations allowed quantifying the fragility of the liquid and the occurrence of a breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation between $η$ and $D$ in the supercooled phase. Isoconfigurational analysis provided a visualization of the emergence of dynamical heterogeneities responsible for the breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation. The analysis revealed that the regions of most mobile atoms are related to the presence of Ge atoms with particular local environments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_13668
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Viscosity, breakdown of Stokes-Einstein relation and dynamical heterogeneity in supercooled liquid Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ from simulations with a neural network potential
Marcorini, Simone
Pomodoro, Rocco
Kheir, Omar Abou El
Bernasconi, Marco
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Phase change materials are exploited in non-volatile electronic memories and photonic devices that rely on a fast and reversible transformation between the amorphous and crystalline phase upon heating. The recrystallization of the amorphous phase at the operation conditions of the memories occurs in the supercooled liquid phase above the glass transition temperature $T_g$. The dynamics of the supercooled liquid is thus of great relevance for the operation of the devices and, close to $T_g$, also for the structural relaxations of the glass that affect the performances of the memories. Information on the atomic dynamics is provided by the diffusion coefficient ($D$) and by the viscosity ($η$) which are, however, both difficult to be measured experimentally at the operation conditions of the devices due to the fast crystallization. In this work, we leverage a machine learning interatomic potential for the flagship phase change compound compound Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ to compute $η$, $D$ and the $α$-relaxation time in a wide temperature range from 1200 K to about 100 K above $T_g$. Large scale molecular dynamics simulations allowed quantifying the fragility of the liquid and the occurrence of a breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation between $η$ and $D$ in the supercooled phase. Isoconfigurational analysis provided a visualization of the emergence of dynamical heterogeneities responsible for the breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation. The analysis revealed that the regions of most mobile atoms are related to the presence of Ge atoms with particular local environments.
title Viscosity, breakdown of Stokes-Einstein relation and dynamical heterogeneity in supercooled liquid Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ from simulations with a neural network potential
topic Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.13668