Solid-liquid interface energy between silicon crystal and silicon-aluminum melt

By examining the surface morphologies of undercooled Si-20 at. pct Al alloy during and after the solidification process, it is determined that the critical undercooling for silicon to grow from lateral mode to intermediary mode ΔT^* and that from intermediary mode to continuous mode ΔT^** are 131 and 239 K, respectively. A method that predicts the solid-liquid interface energy of binary lateral growth materials on the basis of ΔT^* and ΔT^** has been developed. Formulas between the physical parameters and the solid-liquid interface energy have been obtained. The interface energy between silicon crystal and Si-Al melt predicted from ΔT^* is almost equal to that from ΔT^**. The present results of the solid-liquid interface energy predicted according to ΔT ^* and ΔT^** obtained in Si-20 at. pct Al alloy are in very good agreement with the reported results of the grain-boundary method and the critical undercooling method from ΔT ^* and ΔT^** obtained in pure silicon.