Crystallization of sputter-deposited amorphous Ge films by electron irradiation: Effect of low-flux pre-irradiation

We investigated the effect of low-flux electron irradiation with 125 keV to sputter-deposited amorphous germanium on the amorphous structure and electron-induced crystallization microstructure by TEM following our previous study on the effect of aging at room temperature. In samples aged for 3 days, coarse, spherical particles about 100 nm in diameter appear dominantly. By low-flux pre-irradiation to the samples, a reduction in the size and number of coarse particles, embedded in the matrix with fine nanograins of the diamond cubic structure, was noted with the increase in fluence. The crystal structure of these coarse particles was found to be not cubic but hexagonal. In samples aged for 4 months, a similar tendency was observed. In samples aged for 7 months, on the other hand, the homogeneous diamond cubic structured nanograins were unchanged by pre-irradiation. These results indicate that pre-irradiation as well as aging modifies the amorphous structure, preventing the appearance of a hexagonal phase. The elimination of a certain amount of medium-range ordered clusters by pre-irradiation, included in as-deposited samples and the samples aged for 4 months, apparently gives rise to a reduction in the size and number of coarse particles with a metastable hexagonal structure.