Abstract
Thin films of Ge–As–Se chalcogenide glasses have been deposited by thermal evaporation from bulk material and submitted to thermal treatments. The linear refractive index and optical band-gap for as-deposited and annealed films have been analyzed as function of the deposition parameters, chemical composition and mean coordination number (MCN). The chemical composition of the films was found to be directly affected by deposition rate, with low rates producing films with elevated Ge and reduced As content, whilst at high rates the Ge content was generally reduced and As levels increased compared with the bulk starting material. As a result films with close to the same stoichiometry as the bulk glass could be obtained by choosing appropriate deposition conditions. As-deposited films with MCN in between 2.44 and 2.55 showed refractive indices and optical band-gaps very close to those of the bulk glass whereas outside this range the film indices were higher and the optical gaps lower than those of the bulk glass. Upon annealing at close to their glass transition temperature, high MCN films evolved such that their indices and band-gaps approached the bulk glass values whereas at low MCN films resulted in no changes to the film properties.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A.B. Seddon, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 184, 44 (1995)
J.S. Sanghera, I.D. Aggarwal, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 256–257, 6 (1999)
A. Zakery, S.R. Elliott, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 330, 1 (2003)
M. Pelusi, V. Ta’eed, E. Magi, M. Lamont, S. Madden, D.-Y. Choi, D. Bulla, B. Luther-Davies, B. Eggleton, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 14, 529 (2008)
M. Galili, J. Xu, H.C. Mulvad, L.K. Oxenløwe, A.T. Clausen, P. Jeppesen, B. Luther-Davies, S. Madden, A. Rode, D.Y. Choi, M. Pelusi, F. Luan, B.J. Eggleton, Opt. Express 17, 2182 (2009)
K. Tanaka, A. Saitoh, N. Terakado, J. Matter Sci., Matter Electron. 20, 38 (2009)
K. Petkov, P.J.S. Ewen, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 249, 150 (1999)
J.M. Harbold, F.O. Ilday, F.W. Wise, B.G. Aitken, IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 14, 822 (2002)
J.T. Gopinath, M. Soljacic, E.P. Ippen, V.N. Fuflyigin, W.A. King, M. Shurgalin, J. Appl. Phys. 96, 6931 (2004)
J.C. Phillips, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 34, 153 (1979)
H. He, M.F. Thorpe, Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 2107 (1985)
M.F. Thorpe, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 57, 355 (1983)
K. Tanaka, Phys. Rev. B 39, 1270 (1989)
G. Saffarini, Appl. Phys. A 59, 385 (1994)
G. Saffarini, J.M. Saiter, Chalc. Lett. 3, 49 (2006)
R. Rajesh, J. Philip, J. Matter Sci. 38, 1513 (2003)
R.P. Wang, C.J. Zha, A.V. Rode, S.J. Madden, B. Luther-Davies, J. Mater. Sci., Mater. Electron. 18, S419 (2007)
R.P. Wang, A. Smith, B. Luther-Davies, J. Appl. Phys. 105, 056109 (2009)
M.F. Thorpe, D.J. Jacobs, M.V. Chubynsky, J.C. Phillips, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 266–269, 859 (2000)
P. Boolchand, D.G. Georgiev, B. Goodman, J. Optoelectron. Adv. Matter 3, 703 (2001)
Y. Wang, P. Boolchand, M. Micoulaut, Europhys. Lett. 52, 633 (2000)
T. Qu, P. Boolchand, Philos. Mag. 85, 875 (2005)
F. Wang, S. Mamedov, P. Boolchand, B. Goodman, M. Chandrasekhar, Phys. Rev. B 71, 174201 (2005)
M.V. Chubynsky, M.F. Thorpe, Curr. Opin. Solid State Matter Sci. 5, 525 (2001)
D. Selvanthan, W.J. Bresser, P. Boolchand, Phys. Rev. B 61, 15061 (2000)
M. Micoulaut, J.C. Phillips, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 353, 1732 (2007)
E.R. Skordeva, D.D. Arsova, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 192–193, 665 (1995)
S.R. Elliott, Nature 354, 445 (1991)
S. Sen, B.G. Aitken, Phys. Rev. B 66, 134204 (2002)
P. Boolchand, G. Lucovsky, J.C. Phillips, M.F. Thorpe, Philos. Mag. 75, 3823 (2005)
C. Zha, R.P. Wang, A. Smith, A. Prasad, R.A. Jarvis, B. Luther-Davies, J. Mater. Sci., Mater. Electron. 18, S389 (2007)
R.P. Wang, D.Y. Choi, A.V. Rode, S.J. Madden, B. Luther-Davies, J. Appl. Phys. 101, 113517 (2007)
A. Prasad, C. Zha, R.P. Wang, A. Smith, S. Madden, B. Luther-Davies, Opt. Express 16, 2804 (2008)
D.A. Turnbull, J.S. Sanghera, V.Q. Nguyen, I.D. Aggarwal, Mater. Lett. 58, 51 (2003)
J.M. Laniel, J.M. Menard, K. Turcotte, A. Villeneuve, R. Vallee, C. Lopez, K.A. Richardson, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 328, 183 (2003)
M. Frumar, B. Frumarova, P. Nemec, T. Wagner, J. Jedelsky, M. Hrdlicka, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 351, 544 (2006)
R.A. Jarvis, R.P. Wang, A.V. Rode, C. Zha, B. Luther-Davies, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 353, 947 (2007)
F.E. Jenner, P. Holden, J.A. Mavrogenes, H.S.C. O’Neill, C. Allen, Geostand. Geoanal. Res. (2009, in press)
R.J. Nemanich, G.A.N. Connell, T.M. Hayes, R.A. Street, Phys. Rev. B 18, 6900 (1978)
L. Tichy, H. Ticha, P. Nagels, E. Sleeckx, Opt. Mater. 4, 771 (1995)
R.P. Wang, A.V. Rode, S.J. Madden, C.J. Zha, R.A. Jarvis, B. Luther-Davies, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 353, 950 (2007)
R.P. Wang, A. Rode, D.Y. Choi, B. Luther-Davies, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 91, 2371 (2008)
S.J. Madden, D.Y. Choi, D.A. Bulla, A.V. Rode, B. Luther-Davies, V.G. Ta’eed, M.D. Pelusi, B.J. Eggleton, Opt. Express 15, 14421 (2007)
V.G. Ta’eed, M.D. Pelusi, B.J. Eggleton, D.Y. Choi, S. Madden, D. Bulla, B. Luther-Davies, Opt. Express 15, 15047 (2007)
A. Faraon, D. Englund, D. Bulla, B. Luther-Davies, B.J. Eggleton, N. Stoltz, P. Petroff, J. Vuckovic, Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 043123 (2008)
A. Zakery, S.R. Elliott, Optical Nonlinearities in Chalcogenide Glasses and Their Applications. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol. 135 (Springer, Berlin, 2007)
W.A. Kamitakahara, R.L. Cappelletti, P. Boolchand, B. Halfpap, F. Gompf, D.A. Neumann, H. Mutka, Phys. Rev. B 44, 94 (1991)
J.D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics (Wiley, New York, 1975)
P. Lucas, J. Phys., Condens. Matter 18, 5629 (2006)
P. Herve, K.L. Vandamme, Infrared Phys. Technol. 35, 609 (1994)
N.M. Ravindra, P. Ganapathy, J. Choi, Infrared Phys. Technol. 50, 21 (2007)
N.F. Mott, E.A. Davies, Electronic Processes in Non-Crystalline Materials (Clarendon, Oxford, 1979)
W. Li, S. Seal, J. Appl. Phys. 98, 053503 (2005)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bulla, D.A.P., Wang, R.P., Prasad, A. et al. On the properties and stability of thermally evaporated Ge–As–Se thin films. Appl. Phys. A 96, 615–625 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-009-5293-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-009-5293-0