In-Situ High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy of Dynamic Events During the Amorphous to Crystalline Phase Transformation in Silicon

ABSTRACTA technique has been developed which employs high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) for the observation of the atomic mechanisms associated with solid state phase transformation as they occur at elevated temperatures. It consists of the annealing in-situ of cross-section transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens that have been favorably oriented for lattice fringe imaging and the video-recording of dynamic events as they occur in real-time. By means of this technique, we report the first video-recorded lattice images of crystallographic defect motion in silicon, viz. the motion of dislocations and stacking faults, as well as the first such images of the atomic mechanisms responsible for the amorphous to crystalline (a-c) phase transformation, viz. heterogeneous nucleation of crystal nuclei, coalescence of crystal nuclei by co-operative atomic processes, ledge motion at the growth interface, and normal growth in silicon. This technique holds great potential for the elucidation of the atomic mechanisms involved in reaction kinetics in the solid state.