Shifting of the thermal properties of amorphous germanium films upon relaxation and crystallization

The modification of the thermal conductivity and melting temperature of unrelaxed amorphous Ge films on Si substrates upon laser-induced relaxation and crystallization is presented. Real-Time Reflectivity (RTR) measurements are used to determine experimentally both the melting threshold and the melt durations, and the finite element method is used to simulate the laser-induced heat-flow process. A thermal conductivity ofk=0.010 W dem K is determined for the unrelaxed material by fitting the experimental melting thresholds of unrelaxed films of different thicknesses. A similar procedure applied to the amorphous relaxed and crystallized materials lead to a shift to higher values of both the thermal conductivity and the melting temperature. In order to achieve a good fit of the experimental melt durations, it was necessary to assume a large degree of undercooling prior to solidification. The role of undercooling in the solidification process is finally discussed in terms of its dependence on the faser energy density and the high thermal conductivity of the substrate.