Thermodynamics and mechanism of metal-induced crystallization in immiscible alloy systems: Experiments and calculations on Al/a-Ge and Al/a-Si bilayers

The mechanism of metal-induced crystallization (MIC) in immiscible alloy systems has been explained on a unified thermodynamic basis. Interface thermodynamics has been shown to play a decisive role for the occurrence of MIC. The thermodynamic predictions agree excellently with the corresponding experimental observations obtained in this project for the $\mathrm{Al}∕\mathrm{Ge}$ and $\mathrm{Al}∕\mathrm{Si}$ layer systems, which show two distinctly different types of MIC behaviors. As a result, a model has been developed that rationalizes and predicts MIC processes in immiscible alloy systems.