Temperature-induced assembly of semiconductor nanocrystals into fractal architectures and thermoelectric power properties in Au/Ge bilayer films

Fractal architectures of semiconductor nanocrystals were successfully achieved by temperature-induced assembly of semiconductor nanocrystals in gold/germanium (Au/Ge) bilayer films. New assessment strategies of fractal architectures are of fundamental importance in the development of micro/nano-devices. Temperature-dependent properties including resistivity and thermoelectric power (TEP) of Au/Ge bilayer films with self-similar fractal patterns were investigated in detail. Experimental results indicated that the microstructure of Au film plays an important role in the characteristics of Au/Ge bilayer films after annealing and the crystallization processes of amorphous Ge accompany by fractal formation of Ge nanocrystals via temperature-induced assembly. The appearance of fractal architectures has significantly influence on the TEP but little effect on the resistivity of the annealed bilayer film. By analysis of the data, we found that the values of superlocalization exponent are within 1.22 ⩽ ξ ⩽ 1.29, which are higher than expected for two-dimension fractal systems. The results provided possible evidence for the superlocalization on fractal architectures in Au/Ge bilayer films. The TEP measurements are considered a more effective method than the conductivity for investigating superlocalization in a percolating system.

► Ge fractal architectures were achieved by temperature-induced assembly.
► The appearance of fractal architectures influences the thermoelectric power.
► But it has little effect on the resistivity.
► The values of the superlocalization exponent were within 1.22 ⩽ ξ ⩽ 1.29.
► It was higher than expected for two-dimension fractal system.