Precipitation of phosphorus from solid solution in Ge-Si alloy

Abstract The rate of precipitation of P from solid solution in Ge-Si alloy has been measured for times between 0.1 and 1000 hr over the temperature range 450°–700°C. Except for short times, the kinetics obey the rate law Z 3 = kt + B where Z is the inverse fractional supersaturation and k and B are constants. This equation has been shown by Lifshitz and Slyozov to apply to a process in which surface energy causes the number of precipitate sites to decrease and the average particle size to increase with time. Thus, precipitation and coarsening appear to be occurring simultaneously in this system.