Fabrication of ordered Sb–Te and In–Ge–Te nanostructures by selective MOCVD

The controlled growth of chalcogenide nanoscaled phase change material structures can be important to facilitate integration and to enable complex architectures for phase change memory and other microelectronic applications. Here, the growth of Sb–Te and In–Ge–Te alloys by metal–organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) on patterned substrates featured with an array of recesses (~130 nm features width) was investigated. High selectivity, with preferential growth on a CoSi2 metallic layer at the recess bottom with respect to the surrounding SiO2 masking layer, was obtained, leading to a single-step fabrication of arrays of high-aspect-ratio chalcogenide nanostructures. The growth selectivity, as well as the morphology, composition and microstructure of the grown nanostructures, as a function of the different MOCVD process parameters, were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. Thanks to the chosen substrates, the synthesized nanostructures were also directly electrically accessible, as proved by conductive-atomic force microscopy.