Observation of the elastic field related to a structural domain boundary along a {111}NiSi₂//{115}Si heterotwin interface^*

¹ Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (LTPCM (UMR 5614)), ENSEEG, BP. 75, 38402, Saint-Martin-d'Hères, France
² HRTEM Lab., Materials Science Centre, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China

Corresponding author: rbonnet@ltpcm.inpg.fr

Received: 28 October 1997
Revised: 26 December 1997
Accepted: 20 February 1998
Published online: 15 May 1998

Abstract

A heterotwin interface has been observed by high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) along the common direction to identify the long period atomic structural units (ASU's). Coexistence of two different structural doMayns has been found with ASU's corresponding to two different cycles of five-, six-, and seven-atom rings. A dislocation/ledge (DL) has been particularly studied because its separates these two unusual cycles of ASU's. The elastic displacement field u of the atom columns around the DL has been calculated using both crystallographic and anisotropic elasticity properties of the crystals, assuming a two-dimensional u field. From a comparison between the positions of the atom columns as derived from elasticity calculations and as deduced from the HREM image, it is concluded that the DL is a mixed dislocation with the Burgers vector , a result also in agreement with the imperceptible ledge height associated with the DL core. Such a Burgers vector underlines the role of the Si matrix dislocations for producing such structural doMayns.