Crystallization behavior of phase change materials: comparison between nucleation- and growth-dominated crystallization

A comparative study of the crystallization behavior of nucleation- and growth-determined materials is presented. The influence of phase change layer thickness, additions and amorphous mark size on the crystallization rate is addressed. The long nucleation time of doped SbTe-type materials allows one to measure the nucleation probability separately, which may provide important information for initialization of optical storage disks.