Characterization of interface structures in nanocrystalline germanium by means of high-resolution electron microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract The atomic structure of nanocrystalline particles formed by vapor deposition and subsequent annealing of amorphous thin films of germanium was studied by high resolution electron microscopy (HREM). The HREM images revealed a strongly varied multiply twinned structure. In some regions of adjacent twins contrast features were detected which were caused by an overlapping of twin lamellae. It will be shown by HREM contrast simulations that these interface types can be described by Σ = 3 n boundaries. The influence of lattice relaxations is taken into consideration by molecular dynamics simulations of the structure models.