Anharmonic Effects in Ge2Sb2Te5 and Consequences on Thermodynamic Stability

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Beynon, Owain T., Hashibon, Adham
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Beynon, Owain T.
Hashibon, Adham
author_facet Beynon, Owain T.
Hashibon, Adham
contents Chalcogenide materials are an important class of phase change material (PCMs) owing to their employment in digital memory solutions. Chalgogenide materials have applications in phase change random access memory (PCRAM) due to their ability to reversibly cycle between crystalline and amorphous states, and of these materials Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) is of particular interest due to its speed, stability and low crystallisation temperatures. GST possesses two stable crystalline polymorphs, cubic and hexagonal (trigonal system). Studies show that phenomena such as heat transport and thermal lattice expansion drive the phase-change nature of these materials. These phenomena are not incorporated in the harmonic approximation, which is a popular model for describing vibrations in solids. Through ab initio density functional theory (DFT), we computationally investigate the anharmonic behaviour of pristine GST, without vacancies or defects, while considering the various stacking models that exist and inclusion of van der Waals (vdW) interactions in our modelling. We present the vibrational analysis of different stacking models in GST; Petrov and Kooi-De Hosson (KDH) models and the quantification anharmonic behaviour. Our results demonstrate the importance of incorporating anharmonic and dispersion effects when modelling GST, especially in the choice of stacking models, along with implications for phenomena relating to phase-change behaviour.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_12526
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Anharmonic Effects in Ge2Sb2Te5 and Consequences on Thermodynamic Stability
Beynon, Owain T.
Hashibon, Adham
Materials Science
Chalcogenide materials are an important class of phase change material (PCMs) owing to their employment in digital memory solutions. Chalgogenide materials have applications in phase change random access memory (PCRAM) due to their ability to reversibly cycle between crystalline and amorphous states, and of these materials Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) is of particular interest due to its speed, stability and low crystallisation temperatures. GST possesses two stable crystalline polymorphs, cubic and hexagonal (trigonal system). Studies show that phenomena such as heat transport and thermal lattice expansion drive the phase-change nature of these materials. These phenomena are not incorporated in the harmonic approximation, which is a popular model for describing vibrations in solids. Through ab initio density functional theory (DFT), we computationally investigate the anharmonic behaviour of pristine GST, without vacancies or defects, while considering the various stacking models that exist and inclusion of van der Waals (vdW) interactions in our modelling. We present the vibrational analysis of different stacking models in GST; Petrov and Kooi-De Hosson (KDH) models and the quantification anharmonic behaviour. Our results demonstrate the importance of incorporating anharmonic and dispersion effects when modelling GST, especially in the choice of stacking models, along with implications for phenomena relating to phase-change behaviour.
title Anharmonic Effects in Ge2Sb2Te5 and Consequences on Thermodynamic Stability
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12526