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    Influence of substrate dimensionality on the growth mode of epitaxial 3D-bonded GeTe thin films: From 3D to 2D growth
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2019) Hilmi, Isom; Lotnyk, Andriy; Gerlach, Jürgen W.; Schumacher, Philipp; Rauschenbach, Bernd
    The pseudo-binary line of Sb2Te3-GeTe contains alloys featuring different crystalline characteristics from two-dimensionally (2D-) bonded Sb2Te3 to three-dimensionally (3D-) bonded GeTe. Here, the growth scenario of 3D-bonded GeTe is investigated by depositing epitaxial GeTe thin films on Si(111) and Sb2Te3-buffered Si(111) substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). GeTe thin films were grown in trigonal structure within a temperature window for epitaxial growth of 210–270 °C on unbuffered Si(111) substrates. An unconventional growth onset was characterized by the formation of a thin amorphous GeTe layer. Nonetheless, the as-grown film is found to be crystalline. Furthermore, by employing a 2D-bonded Sb2Te3 thin film as a seeding layer on Si(111), a 2D growth of GeTe is harnessed. The epitaxial window can substantially be extended especially towards lower temperatures down to 145 °C. Additionally, the surface quality is significantly improved. The inspection of the local structure of the epitaxial films reveals the presence of a superposition of twinned domains, which is assumed to be an intrinsic feature of such thin films. This work might open a way for an improvement of an epitaxy of a 3D-bonded material on a highly-mismatched substrate (e.g. Si (111)) by employing a 2D-bonded seeding layer (e.g. Sb2Te3).
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    Design of biomimetic collagen matrices by reagent-free electron beam induced crosslinking: Structure-property relationships and cellular response
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2019) Riedel, Stefanie; Hietschold, Philine; Krömmelbein, Catharina; Kunschmann, Tom; Konieczny, Robert; Knolle, Wolfgang; Mierke, Claudia T.; Zink, Mareike; Mayr, Stefan G.
    Novel strategies to mimic mammalian extracellular matrix (ECM) in vitro are desirable to study cell behavior, diseases and new agents in drug delivery. Even though collagen represents the major constituent of mammalian ECM, artificial collagen hydrogels with characteristic tissue properties such as network size and stiffness are difficult to design without application of chemicals which might be even cytotoxic. In our study we investigate how high energy electron induced crosslinking can be utilized to precisely tune collagen properties for ECM model systems. Constituting a minimally invasive approach, collagen residues remain intact in the course of high energy electron treatment. Quantification of the 3D pore size of the collagen network as a function of irradiation dose shows an increase in density leading to decreased pore size. Rheological measurements indicate elevated storage and loss moduli correlating with an increase in crosslinking density. In addition, cell tests show well maintained viability of NIH 3T3 cells for irradiated collagen gels indicating excellent cellular acceptance. With this, our investigations demonstrate that electron beam crosslinked collagen matrices have a high potential as precisely tunable ECM-mimetic systems with excellent cytocompatibility.
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    Phase and grain size engineering in Ge-Sb-Te-O by alloying with La-Sr-Mn-O towards improved material properties
    (Oxford : Elsevier Science, 2020) Kraft, Nikolas; Wang, Guoxiang; Bryja, Hagen; Prager, Andrea; Griebel, Jan; Lotnyk, Andriy
    Ge-Sb-Te alloys are promising materials for non-volatile memory applications. Alloying of the materials with various elements is considered as prospective approach to enhance material properties. This work reports on the preparation and characterization of pure Ge-Sb-Te-O (GSTO) and alloyed with La-Sr-Mn-O (LSMO) thin films. Thermal heating of amorphous thin films to different temperatures show distinct crystallization behavior. A general trend is the decrease in the size of GSTO crystallites and the suppression in the formation of stable trigonal GSTO phase with increasing content of LSMO. Microstructural studies by transmission electron microscopy show the formation of metastable GSTO nanocrystallites dispersed in the amorphous matrix. Analysis of local chemical bonding by X-ray spectroscopy reveal the presence of different oxides in the GSTO-LSMO composites. Moreover, the composites with a high LSMO content exhibit higher crystallization temperature and significant larger sheet resistance in amorphous and crystalline phase, while a memory device made of GSTO-LSMO alloy reveals bipolar switching and synaptic behavior. In addition, the amount of LSMO in GSTO-LSMO thin films influences their optical properties and band gap. Overall, the results of this work reveal the highly promising potential of GSTO-LSMO nanocomposites for data storage and reconfigurable photonic applications as well as neuro-inspired computing.