Directed movement of Au–Si droplets towards buried dislocation networks on silicon bicrystals

Abstract

Directed movement of Au–Si alloy droplets towards buried dislocation grids on a Si bicrystal has been observed by in situ ultrahigh vacuum transmission electron microscopy. It was found that once the underlying dislocation structure was dissolved, the movement of Au–Si droplets was directed to the region with remaining dislocation network. The migration of Au–Si droplets is driven by the energy difference between the strained bicrystal and nonstrained single-crystal silicon. The directed movement by the buried dislocation network is potentially significant in a wide range of technologies.