ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,356,873, issued on July 8, was assigned to Seoul National University R&DBfoundation (Seoul, South Korea).

"Method of forming chalcogenide-based thin film using atomic layer deposition process, method of forming phase change material layer and switching device, and method of fabricating memory device using the same" was invented by Cheol Seong Hwang (Seoul, South Korea) and Manick Ha (Gyeonggi-do, South Korea).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Disclosed is a method of forming a chalcogenide-based thin film using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process including forming a Ge-Te-based material, the forming of the Ge-Te-based material may includ...