Abstract

The continuous random network model, which is likely a good description of vitreous glasses, does not well fit the as-grown structure of most amorphous silicon and germanium. Instead it appears that the degree of topological crystallinity exceeds 50% in many samples. Although the random network structure is probably more energetically favorable, ubiquitous high density crystalline nucleation is likely the cause of the high energy “paracrystalline” structure which we observe.

Coherent electron diffraction measurements were made of intensity fluctuation in nanodiffraction patterns, including angular intensity correlations. Development of these “fluctuation microscopy” techniques will be discussed, along with their application to other materials.