Pm. Voyles et al., Absence of an abrupt phase change from polycrystalline to amorphous in silicon with deposition temperature, PHYS REV L, 86(24), 2001, pp. 5514-5517
Using fluctuation electron microscopy, we have observed an increase in the
mesoscopic spatial fluctuations in the diffracted intensity from vapor-depo
sited silicon thin films as a function of substrate temperature from the am
orphous to polycrystalline regimes. We interpret this increase as an increa
se in paracrystalline medium-range order in the sample. A paracrystal consi
sts: of topologically crystalline grains in a disordered matrix; in this mo
del the increase in ordering is caused by an increase in the grain size or
density. Our observations are counter to the previous belief that the amorp
hous to polycrystalline transition is a discontinuous disorder-order phase
transition.