Scanning tunneling microscopy and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of phase change materials (A03)

• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2011 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 167917811

The electronic properties of the prototypical phase change material Ge2Sb2Te5 will be studied in detail with-in the technolgically relevant phases, namely the amorphous and the metastable crystalline one. Photoelec-tron spectroscopy in combination with magnetotransport will be used to track the development of the Fermi surface and its relation to the conductivity after successive switching events with a special emphasis on the role of the topological surface states. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy will be used to pinpoint subsurface defect configurations and their fate during switching using the recently established time resolution of 120 ps.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 917: Resistively Switching Chalcogenides for Future Electronics - Structure, Kinetics and Device Scalability: 'Nanoswitches'
• Major Instrumentation: STM controller
• Instrumentation Group: 5091 Rasterkraft-Mikroskope
• Applicant Institution: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Project Heads: Dr. Marcus Liebmann; Professor Dr. Markus Morgenstern