Anisotropic Phase Separation Through the Metal-insulator Transition in Amorphous Mo-Ge and Fe-Ge Alloys

Anisotropic Phase Separation Through the Metal-insulator Transition in Amorphous Mo-Ge and Fe-Ge Alloys
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Total Pages: 152
Release: 1993
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Since an amorphous solid is often defined as that which lacks long-range order, the atomic structure is typically characterized in terms of the high-degree of short-range order. Most descriptions of vapor-deposited amorphous alloys focus on characterizing this order, while assuming that the material is chemically homogeneous beyond a few near neighbors. By coupling traditional small-angle x-ray scattering which probes spatial variations of the electron density with anomalous dispersion which creates a species-specific contrast, one can discern cracks and voids from chemical inhomogeneity. In particular, one finds that the chemical inhomogeneities which have been previously reported in amorphous Fe(subscript x)Ge{sub 1-x} and Mo(subscript x)Ge{sub 1-x} are quite anisotropic, depending significantly on the direction of film growth. With the addition of small amounts of metal atoms (x