Phase Change Materials – Branicio Research Lab

Reversible cycle of a typical phase change material in a PCRAM memory cell
Time-Temperature-Transformation (TTT) diagram of GeSbTe produced by record long AIMD simulations
Amorphous model of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ produced by ab initio molecular dynamics

Selected Publications: Phase Change Materials

Liqiu Yang, Subodh C. Tiwari, Shogo Fukushima, Fuyuki Shimojo, Rajiv K. Kalia, Aiichiro Nakano, Priya Vashishta, and Paulo S. Branicio, Photoexcitation-Induced Nonthermal Ultrafast Loss of Long-Range Order in GeTe, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 13, 10230, 2022.
Subodh C. Tiwari, Rajiv K. Kalia, Aiichiro Nakano, Fuyuki Shimojo, Priya Vashishta, Paulo S. Branicio Photoexcitation Induced Ultrafast Nonthermal Amorphization in Sb₂Te₃, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 11, 10242, 2020.
Jing Ning, Jose C. Martinez, Jamo Momand, Heng Zhang, Subodh C. Tiwari, Fuyuki Shimojo, Aiichiro Nakano, Rajiv K. Kalia, Priya Vashishta, Paulo S. Branicio, Bart J. Kooi, Robert E. Simpson Differences in Sb₂Te₃ growth by pulsed laser and sputter deposition, Acta Materialia, 200, 811, 2020.
O. Roscioni, P. Branicio, J. Kalikka, X. Zhou, R.E. Simpson Local structure of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ during crystallization under pressure, Applied Physics Letters, 112, 151901, 2018.
P.S. Branicio, K. Bai, H. Ramanarayan, D.T. Wu, M.B. Sullivan, D.J. Srolovitz Atomistic insights into the nanosecond long amorphization and crystallization cycle of nanoscale Ge₂Sb₂Te₅: An ab initio molecular dynamics study, Physical Review Materials, 2, 043401, 2018.
K. Bai, T. L. Tan, P. S. Branicio, and M. B. Sullivan. Time-temperature-transformation and continuous-heating-transformation diagrams of GeSb₂Te₄ from nanosecond-long ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, Acta Materialia, 121, 257, 2016.
H. W. Ho, P. S. Branicio, W. D. Song, K. Bai, T. L. Tan, R. Ji, Y. Wang, P. Yang, Y. H. Du, and M. B. Sullivan. Unravelling the anomalous electrical and optical phase-change characteristics in FeTe, Acta Materialia, 112, 67, 2016.
H. W. Ho, W. D. Song, K. Bai, P. S. Branicio, T. L. Tan, R. Ji, L. T. Law, C. M. Ng, and L. Wang, Correlation between optical absorption redshift and carrier density in phase change materials, Journal of Applied Physics, 114, 123504, 2013.
P. S. Branicio, K. Bai, H. Ramanarayan, D. T. Wu, W. Song, W. Wang, M. Li, R. Zhao, L. Shi, D, J. Srolovitz, The amorphization and crystallization of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅: an ab initio molecular dynamics study, Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 1431, F03-05, 2012.