Microwave AC voltage induced phase change in Sb$_2$Te$_3$ nanowires

Abstract

Scaling information bits to ever smaller dimensions is a dominant drive for information technology (IT). Nanostructured phase change material emerges as a key player in the current green-IT endeavor with low power consumption, functional modularity and promising scalability. In this work, we present the demonstration of microwave AC voltage induced phase change phenomenon at 3 GHz in single Sb$_2$Te$_3$ nanowires. The resistance change by a total of 6 - 7 orders of magnitude is evidenced by a transition from the crystalline metallic to the amorphous semiconducting phase, which is cross-examined by temperature dependent transport measurement and high-resolution electron microscopy analysis. This discovery could potentially tailor multi-state information bit encoding and discrimination along a single nanowire, rendering technology advancement for neuro-inspired computing devices.