Investigation into hardness and Young's modulus of thin films of lead germanium telluride

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2-23-2012

Abstract

A mechanically robust infrared high-index coating material is essential to the infrared interference coatings. Lead germanium telluride (Pb 1-xGe xTe) is a pseudo-binary alloy of IV-VI narrow gap semiconductors of PbTe and GeTe. In our investigation, the hardness and Young's modulus of thin films of Pb 1-xGe xTe, which were deposited on silicon substrates using electron beam evaporation, were identified by means of nanoindentation measurement. It is demonstrated that layers of Pb 1-xGe xTe have greater hardness and Young's modulus compared with those of PbTe. These mechanical behaviors of layers can be linked to a ferroelectric phase transition from a cubic paraelectric phase to a rhombohedral, ferroelectric phase. Moreover, the strength loss in the layers of Pb 1-xGe xTe can be also explained in light of strong localized elastic-strain fields in concentrated solid solutions. © (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Advanced Materials Research

First Page

8

Last Page

12

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