Phase relation between supercooled liquid and amorphous silicon

The phase relation between supercooled liquid silicon (l-Si) and amorphous silicon (a-Si) is discussed based on experimental results. Electrostatically levitated l-Si samples were supercooled down to low temperatures, 300K below the melting temperature (T-cl: 1683K), and solidified accompanied by the release of latent heat. It was found that solidified Si samples melted again at 1480K caused by the latent heat. Also, it was found that the Si samples that rapidly quenched near the solidification temperature contained a large amount of a-Si with tetrahedral coordination. These two findings show that the supercooled l-Si samples solidified into a-Si and a-Si melted, confirming the idea of a first-order phase transition between two metastable phases proposed by Turnbull et al. [Metall. Mater. Trans. A 29, 1825 (1998)]. Published under license by AIP Publishing.