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Disorder‐Induced Localization in Crystalline Pseudo‐Binary GeTe–Sb 2 Te 3 Alloys between Ge 3 Sb 2 Te 6 and GeTe
Author(s) -
Jost Peter,
Volker Hanno,
Poitz Annika,
Poltorak Christian,
Zalden Peter,
Schäfer Tobias,
Lange Felix R. L.,
Schmidt Rüdiger M.,
Holländer Bernd,
Wirtssohn Matti R.,
Wuttig Matthias
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201500848
Subject(s) - materials science , stoichiometry , annealing (glass) , crystallization , electrical resistivity and conductivity , metal–insulator transition , binary number , metal , charge carrier density , condensed matter physics , thermodynamics , chemistry , doping , metallurgy , optoelectronics , physics , arithmetic , mathematics , electrical engineering , engineering
Disorder has a tremendous impact on charge transport in crystalline compounds on the pseudo‐binary line between Sb 2 Te 3 and GeTe. Directly after crystallization, the pronounced disorder on the cation sublattice renders crystalline Ge 1 Sb 2 Te 4 —a composition with a carrier density of the order of 10 20 cm −3 —an Anderson insulator. Annealing, however, induces the reduction of disorder and eventually triggers an insulator‐to‐metal transition. This study presents data on the electrical properties, the optical conductivity, and structural properties of the pseudo‐binary compositions between Ge 3 Sb 2 Te 6 and GeTe. In contrast to the preceding investigations, which rely on the annealing temperature for tuning the electrical properties, this study elucidates the impact of stoichiometry and demonstrates that the stoichiometry may be employed as an alternative control parameter for the metal‐to‐insulator transition. The combination of annealing temperature and stoichiometry, therefore, provides a rich playground for tailoring disorder and, as a consequence, the transport of charge.