The chalcogenide glasses have always drawn attention in photonics for being the most suitable materials for applications in the infrared region. Although their use in integrated photonics is promising, there are yet many challenges to integrating optical components in nano- and microscale. The dewetting of thin films is a mostly unexplored and attractive alternative to produce self-assembled structures in solid substrates. Chalcogenide glasses are among the few materials to present dewetting below 300 °C. We report the thermal-induced dewetting of ${\mathrm{As}}_x{\mathrm{Se}}_{100\text{–}x}$ thin films, deposited by electron beam. The activation energy for dewetting is obtained by analyzing the kinetics of dewetting at different temperatures. This energy is greatly affected by the number of homopolar bonds and the glass dimensionality. As a consequence, the higher activation energy is found in the composition with fewer degrees of freedom $\left({\mathrm{As}}_{40}{\mathrm{Se}}_{60}\right)$. The rupture mechanism and the size of the droplets are also greatly affected by the glass composition. This study provides an insight on how to control and use dewetting as an alternative route for nano- and microfabrication in photonics.

中文翻译：

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研究通过对As-Se薄膜进行反润湿形成微观结构的动力学

硫族化物玻璃一直是光子学中的关注点，因为它是用于红外区域的最合适的材料。尽管它们在集成光子学中的应用前景广阔，但是在纳米和微米级集成光学组件仍然存在许多挑战。薄膜的去湿是在固体基材上产生自组装结构的一种主要未开发且有吸引力的选择。硫属化物玻璃是在300°C以下会出现脱湿的少数材料之一。我们报告了热诱导的${如}_X{硒}_{100\text{–}X}$由电子束沉积的薄膜。通过分析不同温度下的去湿动力学来获得去湿的活化能。该能量受同极性键的数量和玻璃尺寸的影响很大。结果，在自由度较小的组合物中发现较高的活化能。$（{如}_{40}{硒}_{60}）$。玻璃成分也极大地影响破裂机理和液滴的尺寸。这项研究提供了有关如何控制和使用去湿作为光子学中纳米和微细加工的替代途径的见解。