The Raman spectra of amorphous Se/Se100-xTex multilayers (AMLs) of various
compositions and sublayer thicknesses have been measured at room and low te
mperature (38 K) with the aim to assess the thermal and absorption effects
of laser illumination on the structural stability of the AMLs. Under therma
l treatment at room temperature (mediated by increasing gradually the power
of the probing laser line), the AML stability (manifested by the rate of S
e crystallization) increases with decreasing Se100-xTex sublayer thickness
and with decreasing Te content. However, in single layers (2 mu m thickness
) of Se100-xTex, we have observed the opposite effect, that is, the stabili
ty of single layers increases with increasing Te content. This apparent con
tradiction is explained in terms of thermodynamic energy considerations sta
ted previously [K. Tanaka , Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 118, 343 (1988)] a
nd of a higher crystallization temperature of Se sublayers in the AMLs than
that of bulk Se of the single layer. In order to eliminate (or, at least,
reduce considerably) the thermal effects of laser illumination and study th
e photoinduced structural changes (due to absorption) in Se/Se100-xTex AMLs
, low temperature (38 K) measurements were carried out using the 530.9 nm K
r+ laser line which is strongly absorbed by these AMLs. The rate of photoin
duced crystallization increases with increasing Te content, which means tha
t their stability to photoinduced changes is (again) higher, the lower the
Te content. This is in agreement with previous results concerning three-dim
ensional Se100-xTex alloys, implying that the dimensionality change (from 3
in the alloys to 2 in the AMLs) does not affect significantly the Se-Se an
d Se-Te bond energies. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(
99)05821-1].