Structural relaxation probed by resistance drift in amorphous germanium

Dong, Ningning; Xu, Jiangen; Cui, Jinjiang; Wang, Xiaodong

doi:10.1088/2053-1591/ab80a9

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Furthermore, it must be pointed out that the temperature required for the nucleation of a crystallite must not depend on the ion beam fluence. Indeed, whilst the structure of the amorphous phase may vary depending on the fluence, it has been shown that during annealing at such temperatures, the amorphous phase undergoes a structural relaxation towards its lower energy form [28,29]. Hence, at the relatively elevated temperatures used in the present work, the amorphous phase must be in its lower energy form and nucleation of crystallites should occur at the typical crystallization temperature (i.e.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Anomalous nucleation of crystals within amorphous germanium nanowires during thermal annealing

et al. 2021

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In this work, germanium nanowires rendered fully amorphous via xenon ion irradiation have been annealed within a transmission electron microscope to induce crystallization. During annealing crystallites appeared in some nanowires whilst others remained fully amorphous. Remarkably, even when nucleation occurred, large sections of the nanowires remained amorphous even though the few crystallites embedded in the amorphous phase were formed at a minimum of 200°C above the temperature for epitaxial growth and 100°C above the temperature for random nucleation and growth in bulk germanium. Furthermore, the presence of crystallites was observed to depend on the diameter of the nanowire. Indeed, the formation of crystallites occurred at a higher annealing temperature in thin nanowires compared with thicker ones. Additionally, nanowires with a diameter above 55 nm were made entirely crystalline when the annealing was performed at the temperature normally required for crystallization in germanium (i.e. 500°C). It is proposed that oxygen atoms hinder both the formation and the growth of crystallites. Furthermore, as crystallites must reach a minimum size to survive and grow within the amorphous nanowires, the instability of crystallites may also play a limited role for the thinnest nanowires.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 87%