Abstract
The phase change memory cells were developed by using a combination system of a femtosecond laser with near-field scanning optical microscopy. The memory cells with feature size varying from
800
nm
down to
90
nm
were achieved. The cell functional performances were tested, and the scalability of the programming current as a function of the memory cell features was investigated. The optical near-field distance which is one of the critical factors to achieve high resolution nanostructures was studied experimentally with the consideration of the whole fabrication process for functional devices. The Bethe-Bouwkamp model was employed to study the effects of the optical near-field distance to the nanostructure geometry. The programming current of
0.8
mA
was observed for the memory nanocell at a feature size of
90
nm
.