Chalcogenide glasses are used in a variety of applications, notably, in the fields of infrared optics, memory devices and photoresists. The kinetics of nucleation and growth of these materials is of critical technological importance owing to their increasing number of usage as phase-change memory materials. A simple chalcogenide system, GeS₂, is a key element in several complicated glasses.

In this work, the nucleation and early GeS₂ were studied by optical microscopy and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Bulk samples were subjected to a double stage heat treatment consisting of nucleation and growth stages for predetermined durations. Subsequently, isothermal nucleation rates were estimated by Image Analysis. The applicability of the classical nucleation theory (CNT) is examined utilizing the bulk viscosity data available in the literature.

The financial support from the Czech Science Foundation under grant, No. P106/11/1152 and from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports under project, CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0021 “Strengthening of Research and Development Teams at the University of Pardubice” is gratefully acknowledged.

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