Solidification of highly undercooled Si and Ge droplets

The production of small (5–200 nm) spheres of silicon and germanium from their melts by electrohydrodynamic atomisation (EHD) was previously reported [1]. We have examined the formation of amorphous and crystalline phases in such spheres. Analysis of electron diffraction data reveals that the smallest spheres are amorphous, with a tetrahedrally coordinated covalent random network structure, rather than being either very fine grained polycrystals...