Femtosecond laser-induced crystallization of amorphous N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films and in situ characterization by coherent phonon spectroscopy
Femtosecond laser-irradiation-induced phase change of amorphous N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films is in situ studied by coherent phonon spectroscopy. We have observed that a new coherent optical phonon (COP) mode occurs as laser irradiation fluence reaches certain thresholds, indicating laser-induced phase changes. Additionally, this new phonon mode has also been verified in heat-annealing-crystallized N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films, confirming the emergence of laser-irradiation-induced crystallization. By measuring the pump fluence dependence of COP dynamics in laser-crystallized N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films, we found that the frequency and lifetime of COP decrease with the increasing of pump fluence, which suggests good crystallinity in laser-crystallized N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films. It has also been observed that the crystallization temperature of amorphous N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films increases with N-doping content. Our results indicate promising applications of N-doped Ge{sub 8}Sb{sub 92} films in optical phase-change memory devices.