Grain Boundaries In Diamond Films On Si(001)

Grain boundaries in [001]-oriented diamond films deposited on Si(001) by microwave-assisted chemical vapor deposition have been investigated in plan-view and cross-section samples using high-resolution electron microscopy. The poly-crystalline diamond films used in this study had large fractions of [001]-oriented grains with typical lateral dimensions of 2 μm at film thicknesses beyond 10 μm. Grains with growth orientations near (001) exhibit generally small-angle orientation deviations between their crystal lattices. Small-angle grain boundaries of symmetric and asymmetric geometry with misorientation angles below 15° are investigated in both [110]- and [001]-directions. It is found that the structures of such small-angle grain boundaries can be described by a dislocation model. These grain boundaries are on average parallel to the {110}-plane and contain in many cases micro-facets parallel to {lll}-planes. Large-angle grain boundaries with tilt angles up to 40° are also observed in interconnected films of smaller thickness. In all cases structural units with large open volumes and additional second phases are not found at the grain boundaries.

Stable Al—Ni—Rh decagonal phase

Decagonal (D) phase was found to be stable at 1100 °C in a small compositional range around Al70.5Ni15.5Rh14 which overlaps with the overall range of the D-phase in Al—Ni—Co. The Al—Ni—Rh D-phase exhibits the “basic” tenfold diffraction pattern and the basic periodicity of about 0.4 nm with diffuse diffraction layers corresponding to the double periodicity. At 1100°C it coexists with the ternary extensions of binary “Al3Rh” and C—Al5Rh2 and with the liquid, at 1000°C no D-phase was observed.

In situ and real-time probing of quasicrystal solidification dynamics by synchrotron imaging

Quasicrystal growth remains an unsolved problem in condensed matter. The dynamics of the process is studied by means of synchrotron live imaging all along the solidification of icosahedral AlPdMn quasicrystals. The lateral motion of ledges driving faceted growth at the solid-melt interface is conclusively shown. When the solidification rate is increased, nucleation and free growth of new faceted grains occur in the melt due to the significant interface recoil induced by slow attachment kinetics. The detailed analysis of the evolution of these grains reveals the crucial role of aluminum rejection, both in the poisoning of their growth and driving fluid flow.

Nonicosahedral equilibrium overlayers of icosahedral quasicrystals

We demonstrate that icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystals can have nonicosahedrally ordered thermodynamic equilibrium overlayers. The formation of orthorhombic or decagonal equilibrium surface structures is determined by the phase equilibrium of the ternary alloy at given composition and temperature as well as by the surface acting as nucleation site. Nonequilibrium steady-state orthorhombic and hexagonal structures can also be derived with the same methodology when taking preferential evaporation into account. The results describe consistently all presently observed surface structures.

Tunneling state anisotropy in a single grain decagonal quasicrystal

We present low-temperature measurements, between 20 mK and 20 K, of the sound velocity variations in a single grain of the decagonal quasicrystal Al-Ni-Co. We have used acoustic shear waves of frequency 70 MHz propagating in the quasicrystalline planes with two different polarizations: parallel and perpendicular to the quasicrystalline planes. Our results show the presence of tunneling states (TSs) with a strong difference of the phonon-TS coupling for the two polarizations, which reveals a strong anisotropy of distribution of the orientations of the TSs in the sample. This result gives direct evidence that TSs are generated by the quasicrystalline structure itself.