Kinetics of liquid-mediated crystallization of amorphous Ge from multi-frame dynamic transmission electron microscopy
- Materials Science Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave., Livermore, California 94551 (United States)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, D-14109 Berlin (Germany)
The kinetics of laser-induced, liquid-mediated crystallization of amorphous Ge thin films were studied using multi-frame dynamic transmission electron microscopy (DTEM), a nanosecond-scale photo-emission transmission electron microscopy technique. In these experiments, high temperature gradients are established in thin amorphous Ge films with a 12-ns laser pulse with a Gaussian spatial profile. The hottest region at the center of the laser spot crystallizes in ∼100 ns and becomes nano-crystalline. Over the next several hundred nanoseconds crystallization continues radially outward from the nano-crystalline region forming elongated grains, some many microns long. The growth rate during the formation of these radial grains is measured with time-resolved imaging experiments. Crystal growth rates exceed 10 m/s, which are consistent with crystallization mediated by a very thin, undercooled transient liquid layer, rather than a purely solid-state transformation mechanism. The kinetics of this growth mode have been studied in detail under steady-state conditions, but here we provide a detailed study of liquid-mediated growth in high temperature gradients. Unexpectedly, the propagation rate of the crystallization front was observed to remain constant during this growth mode even when passing through large local temperature gradients, in stark contrast to other similar studies that suggested the growth rate changed dramatically. The high throughput of multi-frame DTEM provides gives a more complete picture of the role of temperature and temperature gradient on laser crystallization than previous DTEM experiments.
- OSTI ID:
- 22486272
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 25 Vol. 107; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
High-Speed Electron Microscopy
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book | January 2019 |
In situ dynamic transmission electron microscopy characterization of liquid-mediated crystallization of amorphous Ge
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journal | September 2019 |