Microstructural properties and evolution of nanoclusters in liquid Si during rapid cooling process
T. Gao, X. Hu, Y. Li, Z. Tian, Q. Xie1), Q. Chen, Y. Liang, X. Luo, L. Ren, J. Luo
Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Public Big Data, Institute of New Type Optoelectronic Materials and Technology,
College of Big Data and Information Engineering, Guizhou University, 550025 Guiyang, China
Abstract
The formation of amorphous structures in Si during the rapid quenching process was
studied based on molecular dynamics simulation by using the Stillinger-Weber potential. The evolution
characteristics of nanoclusters during the solidification were analyzed by several structural analysis
methods. The amorphous Si has been formed with many tetrahedral clusters and few nanoclusters.
During the solidification, tetrahedral polyhedrons affect the local structures by their different positions
and connection modes. The main kinds of polyhedrons randomly linked with one another to form an
amorphous network structures in the system. The structural evolution of crystal nanocluster
demonstrates that the nanocluster has difficulty to growth because of the high cooling rate of
1012 K/s.