Formation of Nanotwin Networks during High-Temperature Crystallization of Amorphous Germanium.

ABSTRACT: Germanium is an extremely important material used for numerous functional applications in many fields of nanotechnology. In this paper, we study the crystallization of amorphous Ge using atomistic simulations of critical nano-metric nuclei at high temperatures. We find that crystallization occurs by the recurrent transfer of atoms via a diffusive process from the amorphous phase into suitably-oriented crystalline layers. We accompany our simulations with a comprehensive thermodynamic and kinetic analysis of the growth process, which explains the energy balance and the interfacial growth velocities governing grain growth. For the 〈111〉 crystallographic orientation, we find a degenerate atomic rearrangement process, with two zero-energy modes corresponding to a perfect crystalline structure

SUBMITTER: Sandoval L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4660462 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature