Glass formation in the Ge Te100− binary system: Synthesis by twin roller quenching and co-thermal evaporation techniques

Abstract The Ge–Te system exhibits one main composition domain where glasses can be easily prepared by melt quenching technique; this domain is centered on the eutectic composition Ge 15 Te 85 . In this work, bulk flakes and films of composition Ge x Te 100− x with x ⩽ 50 at.% were prepared by two different quenching techniques: (i) the twin roller quenching for bulk flakes and, (ii) the co-thermal evaporation for films (with thickness comprised between 2 and 14 μm). Electron Probe Micro-Analysis was used to check the composition of the materials while X-ray diffraction allowed identifying the amorphous state and/or the crystalline phases present in the Ge x Te 100− x samples. Thermal properties for both types of materials were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. The glass-forming regions were: 11.7–22.0 at.% Ge for bulk flakes and 10.2–35.9 at.% Ge for films. A similar thermal behavior of bulk flakes and thick films was highlighted by Differential Scanning Calorimetry.