Pseudospinodal Mode of Decomposition in Films and Formation of Chessboard-Like Nanostructure

A new decomposition mode, a coherent pseudospinodal decomposition under geometrically confined conditions, is discovered. This mode is associated with a coupling of the decomposition with the displacive crystal lattice rearrangement and results in a gradual separation of compositions of two product...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2009-09, Vol.9 (9), p.3275-3281
Main Authors: Ni, Yong, Rao, Weifeng, Khachaturyan, Armen G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alloys - chemistry
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Exact sciences and technology
Kinetics
Low-dimensional structures (superlattices, quantum well structures, multilayers): structure, and nonelectronic properties
Materials Testing
Membranes, Artificial
Nanostructures - chemistry
Nanotechnology
Particle Size
Physics
Surface Properties
Surfaces and interfaces
thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
Thermodynamics
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Summary:A new decomposition mode, a coherent pseudospinodal decomposition under geometrically confined conditions, is discovered. This mode is associated with a coupling of the decomposition with the displacive crystal lattice rearrangement and results in a gradual separation of compositions of two product phases. We consider a particular case of decomposition in an epitaxial thin film. The 3D phase field microelasticity modeling demonstrates that the confined pseudospinodal decomposition dramatically affects the thermodynamics, kinetics and morphology of the system producing a vertically aligned and highly correlated regular chessboard pattern of two product phases. The study reveals the physical origin of the chessboard structure. The computer modeling predicts its geometry in striking agreement with the existing observations. The modeling shows that the transformation develops through a so-called tweed precursor state observed in many martensitic systems.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/nl901551j