title: Structural evolution in amorphous silicon and germanium thin films.
abstract: The structural evolution in amorphous silicon and germanium thin films has been investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) in conjunction with autocorrelation function (ACF) analysis. The results established that the structure of as-deposited semiconductor films is of a high density of nanocrystallites embedded in the amorphous matrix. In addition, from ACF analysis, the structure of a-Ge is more ordered than that of a-Si. The density of embedded nanocrystallites in amorphous films was found to diminish with annealing temperature first, then to increase. The conclusions also corroborate well with the results of diminished medium-range order in annealed amorphous films determined previously by a variable coherence microscopy method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: P Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Chi
mesh_terms: D000497:Alloys / Q000737:chemistry*; D005857:Germanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000295:instrumentation; D012666:Semiconductors; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys; D005857:Germanium; D012825:Silicon