Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
The semiconducting crystalline alloys, Ge1−xSnx, areof interest due to theoretical predictions about their electronic bandstructures which make them useful in infrared photodetectors. However thecomposition region where these alloys have the desired properties is greaterthan the equilibrium solid solubility limit of Sn in Ge (x<0.01). We havecircumvented the solubility limits and produced thin (2000Å) and thick(4–8Μm) films of Gei.xSnx (x<0.31) by rfsputtering. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) Measurements wereperformed to study grain growth and crystallization processes in thesehighly metastable semiconductors. X-ray and electron diffractionmeasurements indicated the materials were amorphous, but the fact that someof the films were fine grained polycrystalline samples only became apparentin their DSC spectra. We present models that describe quantitatively thetransformation behavior in both sets of films.