Laser-induced modification of amorphous GST225 phase change materials

In this paper, we have studied the crystallization behavior of amorphous GST225 thin films upon irradiation with nanosecond laser pulses. Crystalline and melt-quenched amorphous regions were produced by exposure to laser single or multipulses, and were characterized by the optical microscopy and by the micro-Raman spectroscopy. Transition region between the amorphous and crystalline parts of the laser-modified area was investigated by atomic force microscopy. Using irradiation by single laser pulses with varying fluence, it was verified that crystallization was possible if the fluence is more than 90.4 mJ/cm2