@article{Zheng2016, 
author = {Yonghui Zheng and Mengjiao Xia and Yan Cheng and Feng Rao and Keyuan Ding and Weili Liu and Yu Jia and Zhitang Song and Songlin Feng},
title = {Direct observation of metastable face-centered cubic Sb2Te3 crystal},
year = {2016},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {9},
number = {11},
pages = {3453-3462},
keywords = {phase change memory, Sb2Te3, face-centered cubic, TEM, ab initio theoretical simulation},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s12274-016-1221-8},
doi = {10.1007/s12274-016-1221-8},
abstract = {Although phase change memory technology has developed drastically in the past two decades, the cognition of the key switching materials still ignores an important member, the face-centered cubic Sb2Te3. Apart from the well-known equilibrium hexagonal Sb2Te3 crystal, we prove the metastable face-centered cubic Sb2Te3 phase does exist. Such a metastable crystal contains a large concentration of vacancies randomly occupying the cationic lattice sites. The face-centered cubic to hexagonal phase transformation of Sb2Te3, accompanied by vacancy aggregation, occurs at a quite lower temperature compared to that of Ge2Sb2Te5 alloy. We prove that the covalent-like bonds prevail in the metastable Sb2Te3 crystal, deviating from the ideal resonant features. If a proper doping technique is adopted, the metastable Sb2Te3 phase could be promising for realizing reversibly swift and low-energy phase change memory applications. Our study may offer a new insight into commercialized Ge–Sb–Te systems and help in the design of novel phase change materials to boost the performances of the phase change memory device.}
}