Effect of Au on the crystallization of germanium thin films by electron-beam evaporation

The existence of thin Au layer showed significant impact on the crystallization of amorphous Ge films in terms of reducing the crystallization temperature. In post annealing processes, it was noticed that the impact of Au thin layer on crystallization slightly reduces above the temperature of ∼400 °C, and almost no remarkable differences were observed between the films with and without Au layer in this temperature region. It is observed that the growth temperature has a stronger effect on the crystallization than post annealing temperatures in the presence of Au thin film. It is also shown that Au layer catalyzes the axial growth in the presence of planar Ge layer on the substrate surface.