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• The Sb 54 Zn 46 thin film is fabricated by antimony and zinc targets co-sputtering. • The thermal stability of Sb 54 Zn 46 can satisfy the electro-mobile application. • The strong Sb-Zn bond stretching mode accounts for the high thermal stability. • The phase change speed of Sb 54 Zn 46 (10 ns) is much faster than that of Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5. • Growth-dominant crystallization mechanism explains the fast phase change speed. In this work, we fabricate the Sb 54 Zn 46 thin film by pure antimony and zinc targets co-sputtering and analyze its phase change properties. The ten-years data retention of Sb 54 Zn 46 thin film, being a good reflection of thermal stability, is improved to 119 °C from 24 °C of pristine antimony thin film, which is much higher than that of the traditional phase change material Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 (85 °C). The increased thermal stability of Sb 54 Zn 46 thin film mainly derives from the formation of the strong Sb-Zn bond stretching mode during crystallization. In addition, the phase change speed of Sb 54 Zn 46 thin film measured in device test increases to 10 ns, which is also much faster than that of the traditional phase change material Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 (100 ns). These results illustrate that the fast phase change speed of Sb 54 Zn 46 thin film is mainly ascribed to the Sb-rich atomic environment and the growth-dominant crystallization mechanism. Our work substantiates the co-sputtering Sb 54 Zn 46 thin film can ensure fast phase change speed while effectively increasing its thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]