A comparative study on the single-scan and multiple-scan techniques in differential scanning calorimetry: Application to the crystallization of the semiconducting Ge0.13Sb0.23Se0.64 alloy

A method has been developed for analysing the evolution with time of the volume fraction transformed and for calculating the kinetic parameters at non-isothermal reactions in materials involving formation and growth of nuclei. By considering the assumptions of extended volume and random nucleation, a general expression of the fraction transformed as a function of time has been obtained in isothermal crystallization processes. Considering the mutual interference of regions growing from separate nuclei the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami equation has been deduced as a particular case. The application of the transformation rate equation to the non-isothermal processes has been carried out under the restriction of a nucleation which takes place early in the transformation and the nucleation frequency is zero thereafter. Under these conditions, the kinetic parameters have been deduced by using the techniques of data analysis of single-scan and multiple-scan. The theoretical method developed has been applied to the glass-crystal transformation kinetics of the semiconducting Ge_0.13Sb_0.23Se_0.64 alloy. The kinetic parameters obtained according to both techniques differ by only about 2.5%, which confirms the reliability and accuracy of the single-scan technique when calculating the above-mentioned parameters in non-isothermal transformation processes. The phases at which the above-mentioned semiconducting glass crystallizes after the thermal process have been identified by X-ray diffraction. The diffractogram of the transformed material shows that microcrystallites of Sb₂Se₃ and GeSe are associated with the crystallization process, remaining a residual amorphous matrix.