ON THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF AMORPHOUS-GERMANIUM FILMS

The incubation time for crystallization of amorphous Ge (a-Ge) films, deposited by e-gun, was studied as a function of temperature between 1 50 and 500-degrees-C by means of both in situ transmission electron mi croscopy and Raman scattering spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of t0 follows an Arrhenius curve with an activation energy of 2.0 eV for free-sustained a-Ge films. In the case where the a-Ge films were o n Si3N4 substrate, the activation energy of the incubation process was 1.3 eV.