Physical and chemical aspects of the study of clusters, nanostructures and nanomaterials. Founded at 2009

Clustering of phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5 nanoparticles obtained by laser-induced forward transfer techniques

A.A. Burtsev1, V.A. Mikhalevsky1, V.V. Ionin1, A.A. Nevzorov1, A.V. Kiselev1, M.R. Konnikova1, N.N. Eliseev1, A.A. Lotin1,2

1 National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»
2 Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology

DOI: 10.26456/pcascnn/2025.17.598

Original article

Abstract: The paper presents experimental results on the synthesis of nanoparticles of phase-change Ge2Sb2Te5 material by direct laser-induced transfer. Thin films obtained by thermal vacuum deposition were used as a donor material, and silicon wafers were used as acceptors. The laser-induced transfer was carried out by pulsed laser radiation of the sub-nanosecond duration. The morphology, topology, and sizes of the obtained nanoparticles were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. The clustering features were analyzed based on the Langevin equation. It is demonstrated that the temperature regime during laser transfer has the greatest effect on the cluster formation, which is explained by the fact that the crystalline phases of the studied material are high-temperature. The results of the work show the possibility of creating an element based on nanoparticles with a certain distribution and size, as a technological alternative to devices based on thin films. The use of nanoparticles will allow for energy efficiency, greater flexibility and smooth switching, as well as enable neuromorphic and stochastic computing. Controlled clustering will allow you to create switchable elements with specific properties that may not be available when using thin film-based architectures.

Keywords: chalcogenides, phase-change materials, nanoparticles, clustering, laser-induced forward transfer, phase transitions

  • Anton A. Burtsev – Researcher, National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»
  • Vladimir A. Mikhalevsky – Researcher, National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»
  • Vitaly V. Ionin – Researcher, National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»
  • Alexey A. Nevzorov – Ph. D., Researcher, National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»
  • Alexey V. Kiselev – Ph. D., Senior Researcher, National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»
  • Maria R. Konnikova – Junior Researcher, National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»
  • Nikolay N. Eliseev – Junior Researcher, National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»
  • Andrey A. Lotin – Ph. D., Deputy Head of the branch, National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute», Deputy Director of the Department of Scientific and Technical Policy Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology

For citation:

Burtsev A.A., Mikhalevsky V.A., Ionin V.V., Nevzorov A.A., Kiselev A.V., Konnikova M.R., Eliseev N.N., Lotin A.A. Klasterizatsiya nanochastits fazoizmenyaemogo materiala Ge2Sb2Te5, poluchennykh metodom lazerno-indutsirovannogo perenosa [Clustering of phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5 nanoparticles obtained by laser-induced forward transfer techniques], Fiziko-khimicheskie aspekty izucheniya klasterov, nanostruktur i nanomaterialov [Physical and chemical aspects of the study of clusters, nanostructures and nanomaterials], 2025, issue 17, pp. 598-605. DOI: 10.26456/pcascnn/2025.17.598. ⎘

Full article (in Russian): download PDF file

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