# Aluminum-Catalyzed Lateral Growth of Spherulite-like GeS Thin Films on Insulating Substrates Using Vapor Transport: Implications for Electro-optic Applications

https://mdr.nims.go.jp/datasets/2687de79-84a6-4b4a-babb-16e2adb7b59a

## File

- [submitted-pdf.pdf](https://mdr.nims.go.jp/filesets/b28ef9a0-6c06-4205-a31f-dd6d825588c0/download) ([Detail](https://mdr.nims.go.jp/filesets/b28ef9a0-6c06-4205-a31f-dd6d825588c0.md))

## Id

2687de79-84a6-4b4a-babb-16e2adb7b59a

## Local identifier



## Visibility

open_to_public

## State

published

## Created at

2025-08-20T10:17:39.606994Z

## Updated at

2025-08-21T03:30:39.806991Z

## Published at

2025-08-21T03:18:04.703284Z

## Doi

https://doi.org/10.48505/nims.5656

## First published url

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.5c01552

## Date published

2025-05-30

## Recorded date published

2025-5-30

## Resource type

journal_article

## Manuscript type

authors_original

## Collection



## Title

- title: 'Aluminum-Catalyzed Lateral Growth of Spherulite-like GeS Thin Films on Insulating
    Substrates Using Vapor Transport: Implications for Electro-optic Applications'
  title_type: original
  lang: en

## Description

- description: In this study, germanium monosulfide (GeS) thin films with a minimum
    thickness of approximately 20 nm were laterally grown on SiO2/Si and quartz substrates
    at a growth temperature of 420 ˚C, employing an Al catalyst synergistic with a
    pre-deposited amorphous GeS layer. Grown GeS thin films using a 20 nm-thick Al
    show dendrite structures. Annealing the substrate at 120 ˚C during the thermal
    deposition of Al appears to be an effective method of reducing introduced defects
    caused by internal stress, atomic voids and so forth when growing GeS thin films.
    To prevent the formation of Al surface structures (as predicted by Thornton’s
    extended structure zone model) and dendrite structures, a method using a 5 nm-thick
    Al deposited at room temperature is implemented. The lateral growth rate of Al-catalyzed
    grown spherulite-like GeS thin films was observed to be 2 – 3 µm/sec. The birefringent
    properties of Al-catalyzed grown GeS thin films with a Maltese extinction cross
    pattern were confirmed indicating a spherulite-like structure of the grown GeS.
    XRD spectra and AFM measurements show the layered structure of spherulite-like
    GeS thin films with flat surfaces on SiO2/Si and quartz substrates. The observed
    TEM-SAED patterns suggest the crystals in the GeS to be larger than 200 nm. To
    summarize, this study proposes growth methods for the lateral growth of spherulite-like
    GeS thin films on insulating substrates and clarifies their fundamental structural
    and optical properties. It may also suggest that spherulite-like GeS holds the
    potential to achieve non-epitaxial single-crystalline functional semiconductors
    on insulating substrates, as previously investigated for GeO2, for the development
    of next-generation electro-optic applications (e.g., in-memory sensing and computing
    devices) with the potential advantage of creating programmable FETs via electric
    and optical control.
  description_type: abstract
  lang: und

## Creator

- name: Qinqiang Zhang
  role: author
  orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7242-1718
- name: Ryo Matsumura
  role: author
  orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2303-4978
- name: Naoki Fukata
  role: author
  orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0986-8485

## Contact agent



## Publisher

organization: American Chemical Society (ACS)

## Managing organization



## Keyword

- subject: GeS
  schema: not_defined

## Rights

- description: This document is the unedited Author’s version of a Submitted Work
    that was subsequently accepted for publication in ACS Applied Nano Materials,
    copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final
    edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.5c01552.
  identifier: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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## Embargo



## Journal

- title: ACS Applied Nano Materials
  issn: '25740970'
  volume: '8'
  issue: '21'
  start_page: 11046
  end_page: 11055

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## Related item



## Funding

- identifier: JP20K14796
  funder_name: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- identifier: JP23K13370
  funder_name: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- identifier: JP24KF0164
  funder_name: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

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## Fileset

- id: b28ef9a0-6c06-4205-a31f-dd6d825588c0
  filename: submitted-pdf.pdf
  content_type: application/pdf
  size: 4467761
  md5: b11669407f0b2726234a45d5c6ed578e

## Thumbnail

fileset_id: b28ef9a0-6c06-4205-a31f-dd6d825588c0
filename: submitted-pdf.pdf