Articles you may be interested inA reduced moment-based model for oxygen precipitation in silicon Effect of oxygen precipitates and induced dislocations on oxidation-induced stacking faults in nitrogen-doped Czochralski siliconSize-distribution and annealing behavior of end-of-range dislocation loops in silicon-implanted silicon On growth of a precipitate beyond a critical size (r*), interfacial misfit dislocation loops are energetically stabilized. In the case of precipitation in (small) finite crystals, the energy of both the coherent precipitate and the dislocation loop are altered with respect to bulk crystals. Thus, as the crystal (domain) size approaches nanoscale, the critical size (r*) is expected to be altered with respect to bulk crystals. In the current investigation, finite element simulations are performed to study the variation of critical size (r*) with crystal/domain size and it is shown that below a critical domain size, the coherent precipitate is stabilized. Important findings include: (i) strain energy versus precipitate-size plot shows change in curvature for large precipitate sizes and (ii) coherent state is stable in two distinct regimes of precipitate sizes. Further, a phase diagram showing the stability regions of the coherent and semi-coherent states of the precipitate is drawn. V C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.

On growth beyond a critical size coherent precipitates become semicoherent by the formation of an interfacial misfit edge dislocation loop. On further growth of the precipitate, the interface progressively loses its coherency by the formation of additional dislocation loops. The current investigation pertains to the energetic feasibility of two dislocation loops. Finite element simulations are performed to simulate the stress state of the semicoherent precipitate and to compute the radius of the precipitate at which two symmetrically positioned dislocation loops become energetically favourable. Aspects regarding the stability of the loops are also explored using the simulations. Cu-γFe system is used as a model system to illustrate the methodology and to capture the essential aspects of the process.