Photoemission study of energy band alignment of Ge2Sb 2Te5 and common CMOS materials

Abstract

We report the energy band alignment of Ge2Sb2Te 5 and a variety of common complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible materials. These materials include silicon, silicon oxide, hafnium oxide, silicon nitride as well as nickel suicide. High-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed as the main tool to obtain the core-level spectra, the valence band spectra, and the energy loss spectra. A precise determination of the valence band offsets of Ge2Sb 2Te5 and the various materials were obtained. The conduction band offsets were then determined. The energy band line-ups of Ge2Sb2Te5 and these CMOS compatible materials were established. © 2008 Materials Research Society.