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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| Online-Zugang: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10469 |
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| _version_ | 1866915668683653120 |
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| author | Zhang, Hanyi Xing, Xueqi Wang, Jiang-Jing Nie, Chao Du, Yuxin Zhang, Junying Shen, Xueyang Zhou, Wen Wuttig, Matthias Mazzarello, Riccardo Zhang, Wei |
| author_facet | Zhang, Hanyi Xing, Xueqi Wang, Jiang-Jing Nie, Chao Du, Yuxin Zhang, Junying Shen, Xueyang Zhou, Wen Wuttig, Matthias Mazzarello, Riccardo Zhang, Wei |
| contents | Elemental antimony (Sb) is a promising material for phase-change memory, neuromorphic computing and nanophotonic applications, because its compositional simplicity can prevent phase segregation upon extensive programming. Scaling down the film thickness is a necessary step to prolong the lifetime of amorphous Sb, but the optical properties of Sb are also significantly altered as the thickness is reduced to a few nanometers, adding complexity to device optimization. In this work, we aim to provide atomistic understanding of the thickness-dependent optical responses in Sb thin films. As thickness decreases, both the extinction coefficient and optical contrast reduce in the near-infrared spectrum, consistent with previous optical measurements. Such thickness dependence gives rise to a bottom thickness limit of 2 nm in photonic applications, as predicted by coarse-grained device simulations. Further bonding analysis reveals a fundamentally different behavior for amorphous and crystalline Sb upon downscaling, resulting in the reduction of optical contrast. Thin film experiments are also carried out to validate our predictions. The thickness-dependent optical trend is fully demonstrated by our ellipsometric spectroscopy experiments, and the bottom thickness limit of 2 nm is confirmed by structural characterization experiments. Finally, we show that the greatly improved amorphous-phase stability of the 2 nm Sb thin film enables robust and reversible optical switching in a silicon-based waveguide device. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_10469 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Atomistic understanding of two-dimensional monatomic phase-change material for non-volatile optical applications Zhang, Hanyi Xing, Xueqi Wang, Jiang-Jing Nie, Chao Du, Yuxin Zhang, Junying Shen, Xueyang Zhou, Wen Wuttig, Matthias Mazzarello, Riccardo Zhang, Wei Materials Science Elemental antimony (Sb) is a promising material for phase-change memory, neuromorphic computing and nanophotonic applications, because its compositional simplicity can prevent phase segregation upon extensive programming. Scaling down the film thickness is a necessary step to prolong the lifetime of amorphous Sb, but the optical properties of Sb are also significantly altered as the thickness is reduced to a few nanometers, adding complexity to device optimization. In this work, we aim to provide atomistic understanding of the thickness-dependent optical responses in Sb thin films. As thickness decreases, both the extinction coefficient and optical contrast reduce in the near-infrared spectrum, consistent with previous optical measurements. Such thickness dependence gives rise to a bottom thickness limit of 2 nm in photonic applications, as predicted by coarse-grained device simulations. Further bonding analysis reveals a fundamentally different behavior for amorphous and crystalline Sb upon downscaling, resulting in the reduction of optical contrast. Thin film experiments are also carried out to validate our predictions. The thickness-dependent optical trend is fully demonstrated by our ellipsometric spectroscopy experiments, and the bottom thickness limit of 2 nm is confirmed by structural characterization experiments. Finally, we show that the greatly improved amorphous-phase stability of the 2 nm Sb thin film enables robust and reversible optical switching in a silicon-based waveguide device. |
| title | Atomistic understanding of two-dimensional monatomic phase-change material for non-volatile optical applications |
| topic | Materials Science |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10469 |