Effect of Sn additive on the structure and crystallization kinetics in Ge–Se alloy

Abstract

The structure of Ge20Se80−xSnx glassy alloys and crystallization phases are identified using the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The glass transition kinetics and the crystallization mechanism of the system are studied using Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) under non-isothermal condition. The results reveal that glass transition temperature (Tg) increases with increasing Sn content which is attributed to the increase in the coordination number. The increase of the glass transition activation energy (Eg) with increasing Sn content is attributed to the decrease in the internal energy of the system as Sn increases. The compositional dependence of both glass forming ability and thermal stability are studied. From the experimental data, the thermal stability parameter (S) is found to be maximum for Ge20Se78Sn2 alloy, which indicates that this alloy is thermally more stable in the composition range under investigation. The effect of composition on the crystallization mechanism is discussed using different kinetic models. The crystallization activation energy (Ec) decreases with increasing Sn. This is attributed to the addition of Sn increases the tendency of crystallization. The calculated values of Avrami exponent (n) indicates the crystallization process occurs in one-and two dimensions for Sn is less than or equals 12 at%, respectively.