Speaker
Description
Ge₂SeTe is a promising phase-change material (PCM) for programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs) operating in the infrared spectral range. Since continuous tuning of such devices requires a detailed understanding of thickness-dependent switching behavior, thin films of 40, 80, and 160nm were investigated using a Phase-Change Optical Tester.
Under laser-induced crystallization, the thicker films require less energy to crystallize and exhibit faster crystallization than the thinner films, while the crystallization process itself showed inherently stochastic behavior. Similar thickness-dependent trends were observed during reamorphization and recrystallization.
Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was used to further investigate the crystallization process and its stochasticity. The measurements indicate a low nucleation rate, while no clear dependence of the nucleation on film thickness was observed.
