TY - CONF A1 - Florian, Camilo A1 - Fischer, Daniel A1 - Freiberg, K. A1 - Duwe, M. A1 - Sahre, Mario A1 - Schneider, S. A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Krüger, Jörg A1 - Rettenmayr, M. A1 - Beck, Uwe A1 - Undisz, A. A1 - Bonse, Jörn T1 - Silicon surface amorphization and re-crystallization via single femtosecond laser pulses N2 - Silicon is the material responsible for most of the technological developments during the past century, making it one of the most studied materials along different disciplines. However, there are still unturned stones regarding its superficial re-solidification after femtosecond laser-induced local melting. In this presentation, we report irradiation experiments with single femtosecond pulses (790 nm, 30 fs) with a spatially Gaussian distribution on two different types of silicon with orientations <111> and <100>. The surface modifications were studied in detail via different techniques, including optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, spectroscopic imaging ellipsometry, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. We quantitatively estimate the resulting radial amorphous layer depth profiles with maximum thicknesses around some tenths of nanometers for fluences in between the melting and ablation thresholds. In particular, spectroscopic imaging ellipsometry (SIE) allowed fast data acquisition using multiple wavelengths to provide experimental measurements for calculating the nanometric radial amorphous layer thickness profiles with micrometric lateral resolution based on a thin-film layer model. SIE proved to be capable of detecting and measuring nanometric structural and chemical modifications (oxidation) on the studied laser spots. The accuracy of the SIE-based calculations is verified experimentally by characterizing an in-depth material lamella via high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM-EDX). For completeness, we present a mathematical modelling for the melt layer thickness considering different optical absorption processes including one photon absorption, two photon absorption and free-carrier absorption, highlighting the relevance of the latter one in the femtosecond laser-induced melting of silicon. T2 - 28th International Conference on Advanced Laser Technologies (ALT'21) CY - Online meeting DA - 06.09.2021 KW - Silicon KW - Femtosecond laser KW - Phase transitions KW - Spectroscopic imaging ellipsometry KW - Transmission electron microscopy PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53235 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Tehranchi, A. A1 - Mathews, P. A1 - Zendegani, A. A1 - Zhang, S. A1 - Scheu, C. A1 - Neugebauer, J. T1 - Constructing defect phase diagrams from ab initio calculations N2 - Thermodynamic bulk phase diagrams have become the roadmap used by researchers to identify alloy compositions and process conditions that result in novel materials with tailored microstructures. On the other hand, recent progress in experimental atomic-scale characterization techniques allows one to study the local chemical composition at individual defects such as interfaces, grain boundaries, dislocations and surfaces. They show that changes in the alloy composition can drive not only transitions in the bulk phases present in a material, but also in the concentration and type of defects they contain. Defect phase diagrams, using chemical potentials as thermodynamics variables, provide a natural route to study these chemically driven defects. Our results show, however, that the direct application of thermodynamic approaches can fail to reproduce the experimentally observed defect formation. Therefore, we extend the concept to metastable defect phase diagrams to account for kinetic limitations that prevent the system from reaching equilibrium. We use ab initio calculations based on density functional theory to quantify the extension of regions where defect formation is expected. We successfully applied this concept to explain the formation of large concentrations of planar defects in supersaturated Fe2Nb Laves phases. In addition, we identify in a joint study with experiments conditions and structures in Mg-Al-Ca alloys for defect phase occurrence. The concept offers new avenues for designing materials with tailored defect structures. T2 - Birmingham University, Seminar in physical chemistry CY - Birmingham, GB DA - 21.07.2023 KW - Atomistic models KW - Phase transitions KW - Defects PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58843 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, X. A1 - Zhang, J. A1 - Wang, H. A1 - Rogal, J: A1 - Li, H.-Y. A1 - Wei, S.-H. A1 - Hickel, Tilmann T1 - Defect-characterized phase transition kinetics JF - Applied physics reviews N2 - Phase transitions are a common phenomenon in condensed matter and act as a critical degree of freedom that can be employed to tailor the mechanical or electronic properties of materials. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of the thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transitions is, thus, at the core of modern materials design. Conventionally, studies of phase transitions have, to a large extent, focused on pristine bulk phases. However, realistic materials exist in a complex form; their microstructures consist of different point and extended defects. The presence of defects impacts the thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transitions, but has been commonly ignored or treated separately. In recent years, with the significant advances in theoretical and experimental techniques, there has been an increasing research interest in modeling and characterizing how defects impact or even dictate phase transitions. The present review systematically discusses the recent progress in understanding the kinetics of defect-characterized phase transitions, derives the key mechanisms underlying these phase transitions, and envisions the remaining challenges and fruitful research directions. We hope that these discussions and insights will help to inspire future research and development in the field. KW - Kinetics KW - Atomistic models KW - Phase transitions KW - Defects PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0117234 SN - 1931-9401 VL - 9 IS - 4 SP - 1 EP - 42 PB - AIP CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-56507 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -