Effect of antimony addition on thermal stability and crystallization kinetics of germanium–selenium alloys

•Investigated thermal stability and crystallization kinetics of Ge–Se–Sb chalcogenide glasses•Thermal stability and glass forming ability are highest for 17.2 at.% of Sb.•Ge19Se63.8Sb17.2 is thermally most stable and may be explored for memory devices.

Chalcogenide glasses are promising materials for threshold and memory switching. Alloys of Ge19Se81 − xSbx (x = 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 17.2, 20) have been prepared by melt quench technique. Differential thermal analysis has been used to characterize samples at different heating rates (α = 5, 10, 15, 20 K/min). Glass transition temperatures, crystallization temperature, melting temperature, activation energy for glass transition and crystallization have been determined. Thermal stability of alloys has been analyzed in terms of ease by which atomic rearrangements take place and the resistance to devitrification. The correlation between thermal stability and glass forming ability has also been studied.