Mj. Regan et al., ANISOTROPIC PHASE-SEPARATION THROUGH THE METAL-INSULATOR-TRANSITION IN AMORPHOUS-ALLOYS, Physical review letters, 73(8), 1994, pp. 1118-1121
The characterization of nanometer-scale phase separation in sputtered,
amorphous, metal-Ge and Fe-Si films has led to the observation of a n
ew microstructure that extends through the metal-insulator transition.
The phase separated regions, which are dependent on deposition condit
ions, are well correlated and of the order of 1 nm in the growth plane
but poorly correlated and 1.5-2.0 nm in the growth direction. The res
ults suggest that fluctuations during film growth play a pivotal role
in preventing anticipated columnar structures, probably leading to unu
sual percolation properties.