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Development of the Grain Size Distribution During the Crystallization of an Amorphous Solid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2011

Andreas Bill  and
Ralf B. Bergmann
Andreas Bill
Affiliation:
California State University Long Beach, Department of Physics & Astronomy, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840, U.S.A.
Ralf B. Bergmann
Affiliation:
Bremen Institute for Applied Beam Technology (BIAS), Klagenfurter Str. 2, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
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Abstract

We present an overview of the theory developed over the last few years to describe the crystallization of amorphous solids. The microstructure of the crystallizing solid is described in terms of the grain size distribution (GSD). We propose a partial differential equation that captures the physics of crystallization in random nucleation and growth processes. The analytic description is derived for isotropic and anisotropic growth rates and allows for the analysis of different stages of crystallization, from early to full crystallization. We show how the timedependence of effective nucleation and growth rates affect the final distribution. In particular, we demonstrate that for cases described by the Kolmogorov-Avrami-Mehl-Johnson (KAMJ) model applicable to a large class of crystallization processes a lognormal type distribution is obtained at full crystallization. The application of the theory to the crystallization of silicon thin films is discussed.

Keywords

nucleation & growthmicrostructureSi
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1308: Symposium DD – Artificially Induced Crystalline Alignment in Thin Films and Nanostructures , 2011 , mrsf10-1308-dd03-01
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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References

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