Non-thermal regimes of laser annealing of semiconductor nanostructures: crystallization without melting

Autor: Inam Mirza, Alexander V. Bulgakov, Hanna Sopha, Sergey V. Starinskiy, Hana Turčičová, Ondřej Novák, Jiří Mužík, Martin Smrž, Vladimir A. Volodin, Tomáš Mocek, Jan M. Macak, Nadezhda M. Bulgakova
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Frontiers in Nanotechnology, Vol 5 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2673-3013
DOI: 10.3389/fnano.2023.1271832
Popis: As-prepared nanostructured semiconductor materials are usually found in an amorphous form, which needs to be converted into a crystalline one for improving electronic properties and achieving enhanced application functionalities. The most utilized method is thermal annealing in a furnace, which however is time- and energy-consuming and not applicable for low-temperature melting substrates. An alternative is laser annealing, which can be carried out in a relatively short time and, additionally, offers the possibility of annealing localized areas. However, laser-annealed nanostructures are often distorted by melting, while preserving the as-prepared morphology is essential for practical applications. In this work, we analyze conditions of non-thermal ultrafast laser annealing of two kinds of nanostructures: anodic TiO2 nanotube layers and Ge/Si multilayer stacks. For both cases, regimes of crystallization have been found, which yield in preserving the initial nanomaterial morphologies without any melting signs. On these examples, ultrafast non-thermal mechanisms of structural material transformation are discussed, which can provide new opportunities for conversion of amorphous semiconductor nanomaterials into a desired crystalline form that is of high demand for existing and emerging technologies.
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