Investigation of Electronic Excitation Crystallization Enhancement in Amorphous Gesb Films Upon Ultrashort Laser Pulse Irradiation

ABSTRACTPulsed laser induced crystallization of amorphous GeSb films has been studied as a function of the laser pulse duration. The energy density crystallization threshold has been determined for pulses in the range from 400 fs to 8 ns. The threshold is observed to increase substantially for pulse durations in the ns range due to the existence of heat flow through the substrate while the pulse is still being absorbed. The energy density crystallization threshold remains constant within the experimental resolution as the pulse duration is decreased down to 800 fs. For the shortest pulse length used, (400 fs), a decrease in the threshold is observed, suggesting the possible existence of electronic excitation enhanced crystallization.