Patent ID: 8501525

Claim:
A method of fabricating a programmable memory microelectronic device comprising the steps of: i. depositing onto a first electrode an intermediate layer of a material containing a chalcogenide; ii. depositing an ionizable metallic layer on the intermediate layer, wherein the depositing is carried out using a power density below 0.58 W/cm 2 ; iii. irradiating with ultraviolet radiation the ionizable metallic layer so that metallic ions from the ionizable metallic layer diffuse into the intermediate layer to form a chalcogenide material containing metallic ions; iv. depositing a second electrode on the layer of chalcogenide material containing metallic ions obtained in step iii; and repeating steps ii and iii at least n times, where n is an integer greater than or equal to 1, wherein the ionizable metallic layer deposited during step ii has a sufficiently small thickness that said metallic ions may diffuse totally during the irradiation step iii.