Dynamics of Silver Photo-Diffusion into Ge-Chalcogenide Films: Time-Resolved Neutron Reflectometry

Silver diffuses into an amorphous (a-) chalcogenide layer while visible light illuminates Ag/a-chalcogenide films and neutron reflectometry is a suitable technique probing time evolution of the depth profiles without damaging the sample by the probe beam itself. In this paper, we report the results of time-resolved neutron reflectivity measurements of a-Ge ₄₀ Se ₆₀ /Ag/ Si films taken while the films are exposed to visible light. From the measurements, we found enormous changes in the neutron reflectivity profile, including a loss of total reflection region, with continuous illumination even after forming one homogeneous layer, which occurred about 50 min after starting illumination. At this stage, a clear off-specular scattering was observed by a linear detector and a surface roughness was observed with naked eyes.