Published February 15, 2014 | Version v1
Journal article

Observation of chemical separation of In3Sb1Te2 thin film during phase transition

  • 1. Beamline Division, Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH, Pohang 790-784 (Korea, Republic of)
  • 2. Department of Physics and Energy Harvest-Storage Research Center (EHSRC), University of Ulsan, Ulsan 680-749 (Korea, Republic of)
  • 3. Brain Korea 21 Project (BK21) and Department of Materials Engineering, Chungnam University, Daejeon 305-764 (Korea, Republic of)
  • 4. Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa 904-0495 (Japan)

Description

We investigated the chemical states of In3Sb1Te2 (IST) thin film using high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HRXPS) with the synchrotron radiation during in-situ annealing in ultra-high vacuum. To obtain the oxygen-free amorphous IST (a-IST), we performed the mild Ne+ ion sputtering. And also we confirmed the relative a-IST stoichiometry to be 54%:17%:29% based on HRXPS data. At the first and second phase transition temperatures of 350 and 400 °C, we observed the dramatic changes of chemical states from a-IST to InSb and the mixture of crystalline-IST and InTe, respectively. There was a depletion of Sb atoms on the surface after annealing at 750 °C. We assume that Sb atom is a key for the phase transition in IST. However, chemical state of the Sb in IST is unstable during the phase transition and it will be caused with the non-reversible process by this structural instability.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2013.12.096

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.apsusc.2013.12.096;
PII
S0169-4332(13)02385-4;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Applied Surface Science
Journal Volume
292
Journal Page Range
p. 986-989
ISSN
0169-4332
CODEN
ASUSEE

Optional Information

Copyright
Copyright (c) 2013 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.