Thermoanalysis of quasi-ternary As2(S,Se, Te)3 semiconductor glasses

In comparison with other chalcogenide glassy systems, less attention has been paid to the quasi-ternary (quaternary) system As₂(S, Se, Te)₃. In this paper, thermal methods were used to characterize ten different quaternary homogenous semiconductor glasses that were prepared by mixing the stoichiometric binary systems As₂S₃, As₂Se₃ and As₂Te₃. The ratios of the constituent binaries in the quasi-ternary glasses exerted a great influence on their thermal spectrum. The samples poor in As₂Te₃ showed neither the exothermic nor the endothermic peak due to crystallízation (T _c) and melting (T _m), respectively, but only the glass transition (T _g). Three transition temperatures,T _g, T_c andT _m, were detected for other compositions. On the other hand, a phase separation was observed in the samples rich in As₂Te₃. A cyclic scanning technique was used to investigate the thermally-induced phases during two consecutive heat ing-cooling cycles covering the temperature rangeT _g?T_m. The energy of decompositionE _d decreased on increase of the ratio As₂S₃/As₂Se₃ (at constant As₂Te₃), whereas it increased on increase of the ratio As₂Te₃/As₂Se₃ (at constant As₂Se₃ or As₂S₃).