Femtosecond x-ray diffraction reveals a liquid–liquid phase transition in phase-change materials

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw1773
• Publication Date: 2019-06-13T23:14:12Z
• Authors: Peter Zalden; Florian Quirin; Mathias Schumacher; Jan Siegel; Shuai Wei; Azize Koc; Matthieu Nicoul; Mariano Trigo; Pererik Andreasson; Henrik Enquist; Michael J. Shu; Tommaso Pardini; Matthieu Chollet; Diling Zhu; Henrik Lemke; Ider Ronneberger; Jörgen Larsson; Aaron M. Lindenberg; Henry E. Fischer; Stefan Hau-Riege; David A. Reis; Riccardo Mazzarello; Matthias Wuttig; Klaus Sokolowski-...
• Keywords: Phase-change memory; Switching time

Structural switch for fast switching Phase-change materials are important computer memory. They can quickly from glassy to crystalline using a thermal pulse and then lock in that structure long time at lower temperature. Zalden et al. probed the underlying atomic of two phase-change during this ultrafast x-rays simulations (see Perspective by Rao ). A liquid-liquid phase transition both allowed high temperatures. The lower-temperature glass locks structure, allowing long-term memory storage. Science , issue p. 1062 ; see also 1032