Call for Papers

Please contact the symposium organizers with questions.

The rapidly growing demand for data storage and processing, driven by Artificial Intelligence and other data-intensive applications, is posing a serious challenge for current computing devices based on the von Neumann architecture. For every calculation, data sets need to be shuffled sequentially between the processor, and multiple memory and storage units through bandwidth-limited and energy-inefficient interconnects, typically causing 40% power wastage. Phase-change materials (PCMs) based on chalcogenides or antinomies show great promise to break this bottleneck by enabling non-volatile memory devices that can optimize the complex memory hierarchy, and neuro-inspired computing devices that can unify computing with storage in memory cells. The basic working principle is that PCMs can be switched between the amorphous and crystalline phase rapidly and reversibly by either electrical or optical pulses. The large contrast in electrical resistance and optical reflectivity between the two solid-state phases defines the logic state “0” and “1” for memory applications, while the continuous and non-linear change in resistance and reflectivity upon partial amorphization or gradual crystallization can be used to emulate neuronal dynamics for brain-like computing. In addition to traditional Ge-Sb-Te alloys, metal oxides and two-dimensional materials, such as VO₂ and MoTe₂, have also been utilized for phase-change memory applications, where the switching between different logical states is achieved by transitions between different crystalline phases. We aim at making the symposium a great platform that allows exchange of ideas and information, which will push forward the development of PCM-based devices for non-volatile memory, brain-like computing, nanoswitches, flexible displays and others.

Topics will include:

• Materials design and synthesis
• Crystallization kinetics of PCMs
• Resistance drift phenomenon and multi-level storage
• Brain-like computing devices and modeling
• Threshold switching effect and selector devices
• Cycling endurance and device degradation mechanism
• High-Temperature PCMs and embedded memory
• Processing issues in device fabrication
• Optical and thermal properties of PCMs
• Non-volatile photonics and metamaterials
• New phase-change materials
• Atomic imaging and modeling of PCMs

• A tutorial complementing this symposium is tentatively planned.

Invited Speakers (tentative):

• Ali Adibi (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
• Irem Boybat (IBM Research Zurich, Switzerland)
• Raffaella Calarco (CNR Rome, Italy)
• Stefano Cecchi (University of Milano Bicocca, Italy)
• Oana Cojocaru-Miredin (RWTH Aachen University, Germany)
• Marie-Claire Cyrille (CEA-Leti, France)
• Volker L. Deringer (Oxford University, United Kingdom)
• Paolo Fantini (Micron Technology Inc., Italy)
• Hongsik Jeong (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea)
• Suzanne E. Mohney (The Pennsylvania State University, USA)
• Stefania Privitera (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy)
• Yuta Saito (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan)
• Martin Salinga (Universität Münster, Germany)
• Melissa K. Santala (Oregon State University, USA)
• Kyung-Ah Son (HRL Laboratories, USA)
• Jiangjing Wang (Xi'an Jiaotong University, China)
• Qian Wang (Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore)
• Junqiao Wu (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
• Min Zhu (Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)

Symposium Organizers