Abstract
Unusual profile variation of holographic surface relief gratings is detected in thin (2μm) As20Se80 chalcogenide films under e-beam irradiation: gratings of small periods were smoothed, whereas the gratings of larger periods increased their amplitudes. Irradiation was carried out in SEM, with 20kV voltage and 8nA current; the profiles of the irradiated areas were analyzed both by AFM and SEM. It is found that the kinetics of both flattening and growth followed by exponential law and took place due to lateral mass transport accelerated by e-irradiation. It is shown that the profile variation is mainly caused by competition between capillary forces and "chemical" forces induced by broken and deformed atomic bonds under e-beam irradiation. The kinetics of profile variation was calculated assuming that the mechanism of e-beam induced mass transfer is volume diffusion. The diffusion coefficients were estimated from the experimental data using theoretical expressions derived.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 183512 |
Journal | Journal of Applied Physics |
Volume | 115 |
Issue number | 18 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 14 May 2014 |