Modes and kinetics of crystals growth in amorphous films of oxides

Abstract

The morphology and kinetics of crystals growth in amorphous films of Cr₂O₃, ZrO₂, and HfO₂ have been studied by the methods of transmission electron microscopy (“in situ”) with video registration of structural changes. Based on the frame-by-frame analysis of the video the kinetic curves of the phase transformations have been constructed, which reveal typical features of the main crystallization modes: layer (Cr₂O₃), island (ZrO₂), and dendrite (HfO₂) polymorphous crystallization. For each mode the numerical values of the relative crystallization lengths (2036 for Cr₂O₃, 77 for ZrO₂ and 4180 for HfO₂) are determined. The crystal growth modes at electron-beam heating of amorphous films are compared with crystal growth modes on substrates at vapor condensation in vacuum (Frank-van der Merwe, Volmer-Weber and Stranski-Krastanov growth modes).

Keywords:

• kinetics
• crystallization
• growth mode
• amorphous films

Acknowledgments

The work was partially carried out with the support of the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute” (Ukraine, number of the state registration 0116U000855).