Zengguang Cheng* , Wei Zhang*, Chapter 8. Challenges associated with phase-change material selection, "Phase Change Materials-Based Photonic Computing", book edited by Harish Bhaskaran and Wolfram H.P. Pernice, 2024, Elsevier Inc.

Phase-change materials (PCMs) with distinct optical and electrical properties between the two metastable phases, the amorphous and crystalline phases, accompanied by the fast and reversible switching upon optical, electrical, or heat stimulations, have shown tremendous applications since the 1960s, starting from rewritable optical data storage to solid-state random-access memory. Recently, PCMs have been incorporated with silicon photonics and nanophotonics, new areas especially driven by the prosperity of nanofabrication, with great potentials in integrated photonic memory and photonic computing applications. In this chapter, we provided a brief overview of PCMs for rewritable optical data storage. Then we discussed the working principle of PCMs and the bonding origin of the significant optical contrast. We also reviewed the progress made for photonic memory and outlined the typical requirements of PCMs for next-generation integrated photonics. Finally, we highlighted a couple of emerging PCMs for various demanding application scenarios.

Link:Challenges associated with phase-change material selection - ScienceDirect