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Spectroscopy

Engineering

2015

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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Improved Terahertz Modulation Using Germanium Telluride (Gete) Chalcogenide Thin Films, Alexander H. Gwin, Christopher H. Kodama, Tod V. Laurvick, Ronald Coutu Jr., Philip F. Taday Jul 2015

Improved Terahertz Modulation Using Germanium Telluride (Gete) Chalcogenide Thin Films, Alexander H. Gwin, Christopher H. Kodama, Tod V. Laurvick, Ronald Coutu Jr., Philip F. Taday

Faculty Publications

We demonstrate improved terahertz (THz) modulation using thermally crystallized germanium telluride (GeTe) thin films. GeTe is a chalcogenide material that exhibits a nonvolatile, amorphous to crystalline phase change at approximately 200 °C, as well as six orders of magnitude decreased electrical resistivity. In this study, amorphous GeTe thin films were sputtered on sapphire substrates and then tested using THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The test samples, heated in-situ while collecting THz-TDS measurements, exhibited a gradual absorbance increase, an abrupt nonvolatile reduction at the transition temperature, followed by another gradual increase in absorbance. The transition temperature was verified by conducting similar thermal …