Structural properties of Ge nanostructured films synthesized by laser ablation

Abstract

We compare the structural properties of nanostructured Ge films deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and crossed-beam pulsed laser deposition (CBPLD). We show that CBPLD is an excellent technique for reduction of micron-sized particles which affect the quality of nanostructured films. We demonstrate that CBPLD in the equivalent dynamic conditions of PLD yields similar nanostructured Ge films with particle sizes of ∼20 nm. Combining different characterization techniques we conclude that under these deposition conditions the Ge nanoparticles are amorphous.