Nanowire phase change memory with carbon nanotube electrodes

Phase change material (PCM) nanowires (NWs) that are self-aligned with carbon nanotube (CNT) electrodes that achieves a switching currents of the order ~1 μA, over two orders of magnitude below industrial state of the art, is described. The programming currents, ~0.1 μA SET, ~1.6 μA RESET, and power dissipation of the fabricated self-aligned PCM NW devices are among the lowest reported to date. The nanopatterning method used can be applied to probe other nanomaterials by automatically aligning them with CNT electrodes.