Effect of doping on the crystallization kinetics of phase change memory materials on the basis of Ge–Sb–Te system Alexey Babich 1 • Alexey Sherchenkov 1 • Sergey Kozyukhin 2,3 • Petr Lazarenko 1 • Olga Boytsova 2 • Alexey Shuliatyev 1 Received: 1 November 2015 / Accepted: 24 April 2016 Ó Akade ´miai Kiado ´, Budapest, Hungary 2016 Abstract The influence of different amounts of Bi, Ti and In on the thermal properties and crystallization kinetics of Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 thin films for phase change memory devices was investigated. Temperatures and heat effects of crys- tallization were evaluated for all investigated composi- tions. Joint utilization of model-free Ozawa–Flynn–Wall and model-fitting Coates-Redfern methods allowed to estimate effective activation energies and pre-exponential factors for crystallization processes of amorphous films as functions of conversion, and determine reaction models. It was found that crystallization process most adequately can be described by the second- or third-order reaction. Storage and data processing times of the phase change memory cells on the basis of investigated materials were calculated with using of determined kinetic triplets of crystallization processes. Calculations showed that crystallization time decreases nearly on the order of magnitude for Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 ?1 mass% In in comparison with undoped Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 . On the other hand, compositions with 0.5 and 3 mass% In allow to increase sufficiently storage time. Introduction of Ti does not significantly affect data processing time of phase change memory cell; however, it decreases storage time. Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 ?0.5 mass% Bi composition have the most suitable kinetic parameters for phase change memory among the studied thin films. Keywords Kinetic parameters Á DSC Á Phase change memory Á Chalcogenide alloys Á Doping Introduction Currently, phase change memory (PCM) devices are actively developed. This type of memory is considered to be one of the most perspective candidates for new generation of storage devices, which can replace flash memory due to the number of advantages, such as a high cycling endur- ance, high operation speed and extended scalability [1]. The operation of this type of memory is based on reversible phase transitions between amorphous and crys- talline states, which have quite different optical and/or electrical properties, and led to the appearance of optical and electrical PCMs. Chalcogenide semiconductors on the quasi-binary line GeTe-Sb 2 Te 3 , in particular Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 (GST225), are considered to be most promising programmable materials for application in phase change memories [2] due to the fast crystallization rate and high stability at room temper- ature [3]. However, a number of problems and the need to improve technology restrict widespread application of the electrical PCM. One of the problems is connected with the necessity of decreasing the data processing time to the level comparable with that of the random access memory RAM (*10–50 ns). Kinetics of crystallization determines data processing and storage times of PCM devices [2]. Thus, information of kinetic parameters is very important & Alexey Babich drent@yandex.ru 1 National Research University of Electronic Technology, Bld. 1, Shokin Square, Zelenograd, Moscow, Russia 2 Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 31 Leninsky Prospect, Moscow, Russia 119991 3 Department of Chemistry, National Research Tomsk State University, 36, Lenina Av., Tomsk, Russia 634050 123 J Therm Anal Calorim DOI 10.1007/s10973-016-5503-x