Interfacially initiated crystallization in amorphous germanium films

The amorphous to microcrystalline phase transition of Ge in Pb/Ge multilayers has been extensively studied. During crystallization, the x-ray diffraction peaks of the modulated structure disappear and the Pb texture improves. It is shown that the crystallization temperature decreases with decreasing amorphous Ge thickness and is strongly affected by the texture of the metallic component. These results imply that the crystallization is interfacially initiated.