Kinetics of laser-induced crystallization of GeTe and Ge2Sb2Te5 chalcogenide phase-change material thin films

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Abstract

The paper presents the results of theoretical analysis of crystallization of GeTe and Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films under the influence of pulse laser radiation. The phase transformations and the fraction of the crystalline phase was estimated on basis of the change of the probe optical reflection coefficient from the film sample surface. The formalism based on the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami theory was used to evaluate the kinetic behaviors of the phase transformation under the action of laser radiation. On the basis of experimental data of reflection changes during crystallization process of the researched materials, graphs were plotted and Avrami constants were determined. It is shown that GeTe exhibits a single step crystallization process associated with a high rate of nucleation and crystallite growth in all directions. The Ge2Sb2Te5 alloy is characterized by a two-step crystallization process with a change in the Avrami constant due to the influence of many factors such as the film geometry, sputtering characteristics, etc. Such type of crystallization is explained by the predominance of the high-stochastic nucleation.

About the authors

Anton A. Burtsev

National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»

Researcher

Alexey V. Kiselev

National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»

Researcher

Vladimir A. Mikhalevsky

National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»

Researcher

Vitaly V. Ionin

National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»

Researcher

Alexey A. Nevzorov

National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»

Ph. D., Researcher

Nikolay N. Eliseev

National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»

Junior Researcher

Andrey A. Lotin

National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute»; «Crystallography and Photonics» Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Ph. D., Deputy Head of the branch «ILIT-Shatura»

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