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Thermodynamics of Paracrystalline Silicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

P. M. Voyles ,
M. M. J. Treacy  and
J. M. Gibson
P. M. Voyles
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 W. Green St., Urbana, IL 61801 NEC Research Institute, 4 Independence Way, Princeton, NJ 08540
M. M. J. Treacy
Affiliation:
NEC Research Institute, 4 Independence Way, Princeton, NJ 08540
J. M. Gibson
Affiliation:
Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 Cass Ave., Argonne, IL 60439
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Abstract

Fluctuation microscopy experiments have shown that the as-deposited structure of amorphous silicon thin films is paracrystalline. A paracrystal consists of small (< 3 nm in diameter) topologically crystalline grains separated by a disordered matrix. Here we consider the thermodynamics of paracrystalline silicon as a function of the grain size and the temperature. We offer a simple model that qualitatively explains the observed metastability of the ordered structure at low temperature (300 K), the relaxation towards a more disordered structure at intermediate temperatures (600 K), and the recrystallization at high temperatures (1000 K).

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 616: Symposium I – New Methods, Mechanisms & Models of Vapor Deposition , 2000 , 47
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

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