Thermally-induced crystallization behaviour of 80GeSe2-20Ga2Se3 glass as probed by combined X-ray diffraction and PAL spectroscopy

Crystallization behaviour of 80GeSe2-20Ga2Se3 glass caused by thermal annealing at 380 °C for 10, 25 and 50 h are studied using X-ray diffraction and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. It is shown that the structural changes caused by crystallization can be adequately described by positron trapping modes determined within two-state model. The observed changes in defect-related component in the fit of experimental positron lifetime spectra for annealed glasses testifies in a favour of structural fragmentation of larger free volume entities into smaller ones with preceding nucleation in the initial stage of thermal annealing. Because of strong deviation in defect-free bulk positron lifetime from corresponding additive values proper to boundary constituents, the studied glasses cannot be considered as typical representatives of pseudo-binary cut-section.