The transition process of a pure Sb thin film from amorphous to crystalline is ultrafast but thermally unstable. We fabricated Er doped Sb thin films by magnetron sputtering for the first time. By measuring the in situ film resistance vs. temperature, it was found that the crystallization temperature increased from 105 °C to 208 °C with increasing Er content, resulting in a significant improvement in the thermal stability. The phase transition speed was investigated using picosecond laser pulses, showing an ultrafast speed of ∼2 ns. SEM, EDS and XRD analyses also demonstrated the existence of Er and the improvement in the thermal stability by increasing Er-doping. The enhanced thermal stability through Er doping onto Sb thin films was attributed to the formation of Sb–Er bonds in doped films measured by XPS. The main outcomes of this work enable a prediction that the Er doped Sb thin films are well suited for data storage applications.

Flexible information memory is the key component of flexible electronic devices and the core of intelligent wearable devices. In this paper, Ge/Sb multilayer phase change films of various thickness ratios were prepared using polyether ether ketone as substrate, and their flexible phase change properties and device conversion characteristics were studied. After bending for 100000 times and bending experiments with different bending radius, the film can still realize the transition from amorphous to crystalline states, and the resistance fluctuation was small. Bending, stretching and pressing of the film resulted in grain refinement and increasing of crystalline resistance. The flexible electronic devices using Ge/Sb multilayer films were prepared. The phase change memory device can realize reversible conversion between SET and RESET states with different pulse widths in flat, bent states and after bending many times. All findings show that Ge/Sb multilayer films on PEEK substrate have broad application prospects in high-performance flexible memory in the future.