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Title: Structural change upon annealing of amorphous GeSbTe grown on Si(111)

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4892394· OSTI ID:22314581
; ; ; ;  [1]
  1. Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, 10117 Berlin (Germany)

The structural change upon annealing of an amorphous GeSbTe (GST) film deposited by molecular beam epitaxy on a Si(111) substrate is studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray reflectivity (XRR), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). XRD profiles reveal that both metastable cubic and stable hexagonal phases are obtained with a single out-of-plane orientation. XRR study shows a density increase and consequent thickness decrease upon annealing, in accordance with literature. From both, the XRD and the AFM study, it emerges that the crystalline substrate acts as a template for the film, favoring the crystallization of the amorphous GST into the [111] oriented metastable cubic phase, and the latter turns into the [0001] stable hexagonal phase for higher annealing temperature.

OSTI ID:
22314581
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English