Stimuli-responsive phase change materials: Optical and optoelectronic applications
Year: 2021
Authors: Vassalini I.; Alessandri I.; de Ceglia D.
Autors Affiliation: INSTM, Research Unit of Brescia, via Branze 38, Brescia, 25123, Italy; Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, via Branze 38, Brescia, 25123, Italy; CNR-INO, Research Unit of Brescia, via Branze 38, Brescia, 25123, Italy; Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, via Gradenigo 6/a, Padova, 35131,, Italy
Abstract: Stimuli-responsive materials offer a large variety of possibilities in fabrication of solid-state devices. Phase change materials (PCMs) undergo rapid and drastic changes of their optical properties upon switching from one crystallographic phase to another one. This peculiarity makes PCMs ideal candidates for a number of applications including sensors, active displays, photonic volatile and non-volatile memories for information storage and computer science and optoelectronic devices. This review analyzes different examples of PCMs, in particular germanium-antimonium tellurides and vanadium dioxide (VO2) and their applications in the above-mentioned fields, with a detailed discussion on potential, limitations and challenges.
Journal/Review: MATERIALS
Volume: 14 (12) Pages from: 3396-1 to: 3396-36
More Information: This research was partially funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) through the PRIN project NOMEN (2017MP7F8F). Research of D.d.C. was partly performed within Project “Internet of Things: Sviluppi Metodologici, Tecnologici E Applicativi”, cofunded (2018-2022) by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) under the aegis of the “Fondo per il finanziamento dei dipartimenti universitari di eccellenza” initiative (Law 232/2016).KeyWords: phase change materials; GST; VO2; thin films; metasurfaces; active photonics; displays; optical switches; memoriesDOI: 10.3390/ma14123396