Insights into the energy landscape of a ‘memristive’ material

For modern data storage and new computing concepts, so-called memristive materials are of great interest because they can store information without a continuous supply of energy and because even small changes in their atomic structure lead to pronounced changes in electrical resistance. This makes it possible to create very dense networks of memory cells in which computational operations can take place directly within memory. In this way, the time- and energy-intensive transfer of data between processor and data storage can be avoided. However, this high sensitivity, which makes these materials attractive for applications, also has a downside. In a nanoscopic volume of germanium telluride, a particularly versatile material for memristive and ferroelectric applications, even slight atomic rearrangements lead to significant intrinsic noise, i.e. spontaneous changes in resistance. Using this noise, doctoral student Sebastian Walfort and Prof Martin Salinga’s team at the Institute of Materials Physics were able to derive thermodynamic quantities and map the energy landscape that governs the material’s behaviour.

You could find the complete article here.

Dr. Nils Holle awarded dissertation prize

Our group member Dr. Nils Holle was recently awarded the dissertation prize for his excellent doctoral thesis with the title "Electronic transport in amorphous phase change materials”- Congratulations to Nils for this great achievement!

During the ceremony last Friday (December 5) 122 young scientists were honored by the Rectorate for their doctoral theses. Addionally, the best graduates from each department were awarded the Dissertation Prize of the Year 2025 The complete article can be found here.

Award for Talk at EPCOS 2025

Our group member Nils Holle received the second prize for best talk at the EPCOS 2025 conference in Marseille. In his presentation titled “Effect of Peierls-like distortions on transport in amorphous phase change devices,” he presented new insights into electronic transport in phase change materials – materials that could play a key role in neuromorphic computing.

Using advanced computer simulations, the study shows how tiny atomic distortions in amorphous materials affect the flow of electrical current and contribute to resistance drift, a key challenge for future memory and computing devices.

Congratulations on this recognition!

Link to publication: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00776-5

New software for atomic structure analysis published

Our software called "fastatomstruct" has been published in the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS). The software helps scientists study the structure and movement of atoms in materials.

What the software can do:

1. Fast analysis: Modern programming enables significantly faster calculations than existing tools
2. Versatile applications: From simple structural measurements to complex material properties
3. Large datasets: Can easily handle very large atomic systems
4. User-friendly: Integrates easily into existing research workflows

The software is particularly useful for studying liquids, glasses, and amorphous materials. It supports scientists in answering important questions about material development - such as how materials behave at different temperatures or which structures are responsible for certain properties.

As open-source software, "fastatomstruct" is freely available to all researchers and can contribute to the development of new materials and technologies.

Link to our publication: https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.08106

New insights into the transformation dynamics of antimony

At the Institute of Materials Physics at the University of Münster, researchers investigate materials that can transform their internal structure very rapidly, thereby significantly changing their optical properties. This behaviour is useful, for example, when processing information using photonic waveguides. Together with other researchers in Prof Martin Salinga’s team and cooperation partners from the University of Groningen, doctoral student Sebastian Walfort has shown for the first time which phases the chemical element antimony undergoes during its transformation.

The full article can be found here.

Nils Holle: Doctorate with top marks

After his dissertation entitled ‘Electronic transport in amorphous phase change materials’ was unanimously rated ‘summa cum laude’ by three experts in our field of research, Nils Holle was able to confirm this excellent rating once again in his disputation on 13 January.

We congratulate him on this success. We are also delighted that Nils will remain with our team beyond his doctorate.

One of two Collaborative Research Centres (CRC) at the University of Münster will be receiving funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for another four years. Several million euros will go to CRC 1459 “Intelligent matter: From responsive to adaptive nanosystems”.

International team of researchers develops photonic processor with adaptive neural connectivity

Click here for the article.

Sebastian Walfort was awarded the EDISON Young Researcher Award at this year's EDISON conference. Here, participants from all over the world discussed latest progress in the field of fundamental physics and applications of electron dynamics in semiconductors, optoelectronic devices, and nanostructures. The international jury awarded the prize to Sebastian Walfort for his presentation entitled "Correlations in Resistance Fluctuations of Germanium Telluride Glass". We congratulate him and are excited to see how this research topic will develop further.