Nucleation of self-growth dislocations on growth front during the solidification process of silicon.

Molecular dynamics simulation of the nucleation of dislocations in the solidification of silicon has been carried out. The self-growth dislocations could be generated on growth front of grains with the reduction of local energy during homogenous nucleation and growth of silicon. The nucleation mechanism of the self-growth dislocation has been discussed; the essence of it is the mismatch of two atomic islands with different twin stacking sequences in the rough interface. Temperature could affect the interface morphology and then the generation of self-growth dislocation. In addition, some dislocations move along twin boundaries in the grain and even are absorbed by grain boundaries in the course of crystal growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]