Epitaxial Cu–Sn bulk crystals grown by electric current

2013 
Abstract Epitaxial Cu 3 Sn and Cu 6 Sn 5 grown by liquid-phase electroepitaxy (LPEE) have been demonstrated in this work. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that LPEE-grown Cu 3 Sn and Cu 6 Sn 5 grew in particular directions (planes) with respect to the electron flow. LPEE-grown Cu 3 Sn grew in the 〈0 2 0〉 and 〈4 0 0〉 directions, and LPEE-grown Cu 6 Sn 5 grew in the 〈2 0 4〉 and 〈 6 2 3 ¯ 〉 directions. With the aid of a molecular simulation software tool, we conclude that the particular growth directions represent the low-resistance paths for electron flow. This means that, along those particular directions in the LPEE-grown Cu–Sn compounds, the traveling electrons would be scattered least by the lattice. Thus, as the electromigrating Cu atoms form Cu–Sn compound, the newly forming Cu–Sn unit cells would orientate themselves in those particular growth directions to facilitate electron flow. Then, the well-oriented newly formed Cu–Sn compound unit cells can incorporate the growth of the highly orientated LPEE-grown Cu–Sn compounds. In addition, the anisotropy of a number of properties of LPEE-grown Cu 3 Sn and Cu 6 Sn 5 , i.e. coefficient of thermal expansion, Vickers microhardness and electrical properties (resistivity, carrier mobility and carrier concentration), along the particular orientations were measured and reported.
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