Effect of Ag photo-doping on structural, optical and phase change properties of GeTe chalcogenide films

摘要

This paper reports the effect of Ag photo-doping on optical, electrical and structural properties of GeTe:Ag thin films. The absence of sharp diffraction peak confirms the amorphous nature of as-deposited and photo-doped films. The decrease in reflectance of GeTe:Ag bilayer films with photo-doping reaction time has been observed. The RAMAN spectrum showed the characteristic Raman bands for GeTe4 (127 cm(-1)), long chain interactions of Te-Te chains (145 cm(-1)) and a broad peak for Ge-Ge vibrations (275 cm(-1)) without appreciable change in their position/shape with photodoped Ag concentration. The electrical resistivity measurement shows that photo-doping of Ag led to sharp amorphous-crystalline phase transition along with an increase in transition temperature and resistivity value in both amorphous as well as crystalline state. The annealing of photo-doped GeTe:Ag samples showed an enhancement in the crystallinity of GeTe phase without any segregation of Ag phases in annealed samples. The preferential formation of GeTe (200) phase upon crystallization has been observed for GeTe:Ag films. Different optical parameters have been calculated for photo-doped and annealed samples and are discussed in conjunction with the modification of network structure of GeTe with inclusion of photo-doped Ag content. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.