Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2011
Recent experimental and theoretical work suggests that bulk nucleation occurs in highly undercooled liquid silicon formed by the pulsed laser melting of amorphous layers. In this paper we discuss the dynamics of solidification of undercooled liquid silicon in terms of results from melting model calculations and from the theory of homogeneous bulk nucleation. The relationship between the occurrence of bulk nucleation and the ability to induce a liquid-to-amorphous phase transition by large undercoolings of the liquid is considered. It is concluded that the observed liquid-toamorphous transition in silicon cannot be explained by an equilibrium thermodynamic approach.
Research sponsored by the Division of Materials Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy under contract W-7405-eng-26 with Union Carbide Corporation.