STRESS-INDUCED PATTERN-FORMATION PRECEDING CRYSTALLIZATION OF TE3SE4(1) THIN-FILMS

Amorphous Te3Se4 and Te3Se4I thin films, prepared by rf sputtering, we re crystallized by thermal treatment. The relaxation of residual stres ses upon heating the films produced a macroscopic strain pattern in.th e amorphous phase prior to crystallization. This pattern determined th e growth of a preferred crystallographic orientation which led to the evolution of a macroscopic branching crystalline morphology. Interfere nce of transformation stresses between neighboring surface spherulites (sometimes called cylindrites) resulted in the development of shared morphological domains.