Structure of amorphous P–Se prepared by mechanical alloying

Abstract The short- and medium-range structures of amorphous P1−xSex (x=0.6, 0.8) synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) have been investigated by time-of-flight neutron diffraction. The first diffraction peak, near Q=12 nm−1 in the structure factor, S(Q), which is strongly related to the medium range order, is smaller in height and broader in width than that for amorphous P1−xSex (x=0.6, 0.8) prepared by liquid quenching. The formation of the medium-range order is restrained when the amorphous P–Se is synthesized by MA.