Kinetics of liquid-mediated crystallization of amorphous Ge from multi-frame dynamic transmission electron microscopy
Abstract
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. As amore »
- Authors:
-
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und Energie GmbH, Berlin (Germany)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1239268
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1233952; OSTI ID: 1247277
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-676993
Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951; APPLAB
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344; FWP SCW0974
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Applied Physics Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 107; Journal Issue: 25; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; crystal growth; germanium; transmission electron microscopy; liquid crystals; amorphous semiconductors; amorphous semicondcutors
Citation Formats
Santala, M. K., Raoux, S., and Campbell, G. H. Kinetics of liquid-mediated crystallization of amorphous Ge from multi-frame dynamic transmission electron microscopy. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.4938751.
Santala, M. K., Raoux, S., & Campbell, G. H. Kinetics of liquid-mediated crystallization of amorphous Ge from multi-frame dynamic transmission electron microscopy. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4938751
Santala, M. K., Raoux, S., and Campbell, G. H. Thu .
"Kinetics of liquid-mediated crystallization of amorphous Ge from multi-frame dynamic transmission electron microscopy". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4938751. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1239268.
@article{osti_1239268,
title = {Kinetics of liquid-mediated crystallization of amorphous Ge from multi-frame dynamic transmission electron microscopy},
author = {Santala, M. K. and Raoux, S. and Campbell, G. H.},
abstractNote = {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. As a result, 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.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4938751},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 25,
volume = 107,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 24 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Thu Dec 24 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 11 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Progress in Laser-Crystallized Thin-Film Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cells: Intermediate Layers, Light Trapping, and Metallization
journal, January 2014
- Dore, Jonathon; Ong, Daniel; Varlamov, Sergey
- IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 4, Issue 1
Crystallization in amorphous germanium
journal, November 1979
- Germain, P.; Zellama, K.; Squelard, S.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 50, Issue 11
Temperature dependent metal-induced lateral crystallization of amorphous SiGe on insulating substrate
journal, October 2006
- Kanno, Hiroshi; Toko, Kaoru; Sadoh, Taizoh
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 18
Solid-phase crystallization of Si1−xGex alloy layers
journal, February 2001
- Yamaguchi, S.; Sugii, N.; Park, S. K.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 89, Issue 4
Kinetics of motion of crystal-melt interfaces
conference, January 1979
- Spaepen, F.; Turnbull, D.
- AIP Conference Proceedings Vol. 50
Crystallization‐front velocity during scanned laser crystallization of amorphous Ge films
journal, August 1980
- Chapman, Ralph L.; Fan, John C. C.; Zeiger, Herbert J.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 37, Issue 3
Laser-induced nucleation of crystals in amorphous Ge films
journal, January 1992
- Bostanjoglo, O.; Marine, W.; Thomsen-Schmidt, P.
- Applied Surface Science, Vol. 54
Nanocrystallization of amorphous germanium films observed with nanosecond temporal resolution
journal, November 2010
- Nikolova, L.; LaGrange, T.; Reed, B. W.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 20
Complex crystallization dynamics in amorphous germanium observed with dynamic transmission electron microscopy
journal, February 2013
- Nikolova, Liliya; LaGrange, Thomas; Stern, Mark J.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 87, Issue 6
In situ investigation of explosive crystallization in a-Ge: Experimental determination of the interface response function using dynamic transmission electron microscopy
journal, September 2014
- Nikolova, Liliya; Stern, Mark J.; MacLeod, Jennifer M.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 9
Explosive crystallization in the presence of melting
journal, May 2006
- Grigoropoulos, C.; Rogers, M.; Ko, S. H.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 73, Issue 18
In situ crystallization of amorphous germanium under laser irradiation in a transmission electron microscope
journal, January 1984
- Pierrard, P.; Mutaftschiev, B.; Marine, W.
- Thin Solid Films, Vol. 111, Issue 2
Amorphous-crystalline interfaces after laser induced explosive crystallization in amorphous germanium
journal, October 1985
- Césari, C.; Nihoul, G.; Marfaing, J.
- Surface Science, Vol. 162, Issue 1-3
Nanosecond-exposure electron microscopy of laser-induced phase transformations
journal, January 1987
- Bostanjoglo, O.; Tornow, R. P.; Tornow, W.
- Ultramicroscopy, Vol. 21, Issue 4
Explosive crystallization of amorphous germanium
journal, February 1981
- Leamy, H. J.; Brown, W. L.; Celler, G. K.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 38, Issue 3
Melting Temperature and Explosive Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon during Pulsed Laser Irradiation
journal, June 1984
- Thompson, Michael O.; Galvin, G. J.; Mayer, J. W.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 52, Issue 26
Silicon Melt, Regrowth, and Amorphization Velocities During Pulsed Laser Irradiation
journal, March 1983
- Thompson, Michael O.; Mayer, J. W.; Cullis, A. G.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 50, Issue 12
New Noncrystalline Germanium which Crystallizes ``Explosively'' at Room Temperature
journal, March 1972
- Takamori, Takeshi; Messier, Russell; Roy, Rustum
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 20, Issue 5
Atomistic computer simulation of explosive crystallization in pure silicon and germanium
journal, September 2004
- Albenze, Erik J.; Thompson, Michael O.; Clancy, Paulette
- Physical Review B, Vol. 70, Issue 9
Time resolved electron microscopy for in situ experiments
journal, December 2014
- Campbell, Geoffrey H.; McKeown, Joseph T.; Santala, Melissa K.
- Applied Physics Reviews, Vol. 1, Issue 4
Approaches for ultrafast imaging of transient materials processes in the transmission electron microscope
journal, November 2012
- LaGrange, Thomas; Reed, Bryan W.; Santala, Melissa K.
- Micron, Vol. 43, Issue 11, p. 1108-1120
Movie-mode dynamic electron microscopy
journal, January 2015
- LaGrange, Thomas; Reed, Bryan W.; Masiel, Daniel J.
- MRS Bulletin, Vol. 40, Issue 1
Works referencing / citing this record:
High-Speed Electron Microscopy
book, January 2019
- Campbell, Geoffrey H.; McKeown, Joseph T.; Santala, Melissa K.
- Springer Handbook of Microscopy
In situ dynamic transmission electron microscopy characterization of liquid-mediated crystallization of amorphous Ge
journal, September 2019
- Egan, G.; Rahn, T. T.; Rise, A. J.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 126, Issue 10