Nanoscale Inhomogeneities Mapping in Ga-Modified Arsenic Selenide Glasses

Ya Shpotyuk; S Adamiak; A Dziedzic; J Szlezak; W Bochnowski; J Cebulski

doi:10.1186/s11671-017-1887-1

Nanoscale Inhomogeneities Mapping in Ga-Modified Arsenic Selenide Glasses

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2017 Dec;12(1):88. doi: 10.1186/s11671-017-1887-1. Epub 2017 Feb 6.

Authors

Ya Shpotyuk^{1

2}, S Adamiak³, A Dziedzic³, J Szlezak³, W Bochnowski³, J Cebulski³

Affiliations

¹ Center for Innovation and Transfer of Natural Sciences and Engineering Knowledge, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Rzeszow, 1, Pigonia Str., 35-959, Rzeszow, Poland. yashpotyuk@gmail.com.
² Department of Sensor and Semiconductor Electronics, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, 107, Tarnavskoho Str., Lviv, 79017, Ukraine. yashpotyuk@gmail.com.
³ Center for Innovation and Transfer of Natural Sciences and Engineering Knowledge, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Rzeszow, 1, Pigonia Str., 35-959, Rzeszow, Poland.

Abstract

Nanoscale inhomogeneities mapping in Ga-modified As₂Se₃ glass was utilized exploring possibilities of nanoindentation technique using a Berkovitch-type diamond tip. Structural inhomogeneities were detected in Ga_x(As_0.40Se_0.60)_100-x alloys with more than 3 at.% of Ga. The appeared Ga₂Se₃ nanocrystallites were visualized in Ga-modified arsenic selenide glasses using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The Ga additions are shown to increase nanohardness and Young's modulus, this effect attaining an obvious bifurcation trend in crystallization-decomposed Ga₅(As_0.40Se_0.60)₉₅ alloy.

Keywords: Arsenic selenide glass; Crystallization; Nanoindentation; Phase separation.