Amorphous solid

Amorphous redirects here. For amorphousness in

computational systems, see amorphous computing. For
amorphousness in science ction, see amorphous creature. For amorphousness in set theory, see amorphous
set.
In condensed matter physics and materials science, an
amorphous (from the Greek a, without, morph, shape,
form) or non-crystalline solid is a solid that lacks the
long-range order characteristic of a crystal. In some older
books, the term has been used synonymously with glass.
Nowadays, amorphous solid is considered to be the
overarching concept, and glass the more special case: A
glass is an amorphous solid that exhibits a glass transition.[1] Polymers are often amorphous. Other types of
amorphous solids include gels, thin lms, and nanostructured materials such as glass.

States of crystalline and amorphous materials as a function of

connectivity

atoms are the crystal; relaxation of the surface and interfacial eects distort the atomic positions, decreasing
the structural order. Even the most advanced structural
characterization techniques, such as x-ray diraction and
transmission electron microscopy, have diculty in distinguishing between amorphous and crystalline structures
on these length scales.

2 Amorphous thin lms

Amorphous phases are important constituents of thin
lms, which are solid layers of a few nm to some tens of
m thickness deposited upon a substrate. So-called structure zone models were developed to describe the micro
structure and ceramics of thin lms as a function of the
homologous temperature Th that is the ratio of deposition temperature over melting temperature.[3][4] According to these models, a necessary (but not sucient) condition for the occurrence of amorphous phases is that Th
has to be smaller than 0.3, that is the deposition temperature must be below 30% of the melting temperature. For
higher values, the surface diusion of deposited atomic
species would allow for the formation of crystallites with
long range atomic order.

Amorphous metals have low toughness, but high strength

Amorphous materials have an internal structure made of

interconnected structural blocks. Whether a material is
liquid or solid depends primarily on the connectivity between its elementary building blocks so that solids are
characterized by a high degree of connectivity whereas
structural blocks in uids have lower connectivity (see gure on amorphous material states).[2]

Regarding their applications, amorphous metallic layers

played an important role in the discussion of a suspected
superconductivity in amorphous metals.[5] Today, optical
coatings made from TiO2 , SiO2 , Ta2 O5 etc. and combinations of them in most cases consist of amorphous
phases of these compounds. Much research is carried out
into thin amorphous lms as a gas separating membrane
layer.[6] The technologically most important thin amorphous lm is probably represented by few nm thin SiO2

Nano-structured materials

Even amorphous materials have some shortrange order

at the atomic length scale due to the nature of chemical
bonding (see structure of liquids and glasses for more
information on non-crystalline material structure). Furthermore, in very small crystals a large fraction of the
1

layers serving as isolator above the conducting channel of a metal-oxide semiconductor eld-eect transistor (MOSFET). Also, hydrogenated amorphous silicon,
a-Si:H in short, is of technical signicance for thin lm
solar cells. In case of a-Si:H the missing long-range order
between silicon atoms is partly induced by the presence
by hydrogen in the percent range.
The occurrence of amorphous phases turned out as a
phenomenon of particular interest for studying thin lm
growth.[7] Remarkably, the growth of polycrystalline
lms is often used and preceded by an initial amorphous
layer, the thickness of which may amount to only a few
nm. The most investigated example is represented by thin
multicrystalline silicon lms, where such as the unoriented molecule. An initial amorphous layer was observed
in many studies.[8] Wedge-shaped polycrystals were identied by transmission electron microscopy to grow out of
the amorphous phase only after the latter has exceeded
a certain thickness, the precise value of which depends
on deposition temperature, background pressure and various other process parameters. The phenomenon has
been interpreted in the framework of Ostwalds rule of
stages[9] that predicts the formation of phases to proceed
with increasing condensation time towards increasing
stability.[5][8] Experimental studies of the phenomenon
require a clearly dened state of the substrate surface and
its contaminant density etc., upon which the thin lm is
deposited.

References

[1] J. Zarzycki: Les verres et l'tat vitreux. Paris: Masson

1982. English translation available.
[2] M.I. Ojovan, W.E. Lee. Connectivity and glass transition in disordered oxide systems. J. Non-Cryst. Solids,
356, 2534-2540 (2010). doi:10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2010.
05.012
[3] B. A. Movchan & A. V. Demchishin (1969). Study of
the structure and properties of thick vacuum condensates
of nickel, titanium, tungsten, aluminium oxide and zirconium dioxide. Phys. Met. Metallogr. 28: 8390.
[4] J.A. Thornton (1974). Inuence of apparatus geometry and deposition conditions on the structure and
topography of thick sputtered coatings. Journal of
Vacuum Science and Technology 11 (4): 666670.
Bibcode:1974JVST...11..666T. doi:10.1116/1.1312732.
[5] Buckel, W. (1961). The inuence of crystal bonds on
lm growth. Elektrische en Magnetische Eigenschappen
van dunne Metallaagies. Leuven, Belgium.
[6] R.M. de Vos; H. Verweij (1998). High-Selectivity, HighFlux Silica Membranes for Gas Separation. Science
279 (5357): 17101. Bibcode:1998Sci...279.1710D.
doi:10.1126/science.279.5357.1710. PMID 9497287.

EXTERNAL LINKS

[7] Magnuson et al. Electronic Structure and Chemical Bonding of Amorphous Chromium Carbide Thin Films; J.
Phys. - Cond. Mat. 24 , 225004 (2012).
[8] M. Birkholz; B. Selle; W. Fuhs; S. Christiansen; H.
P. Strunk & R. Reich (2001). Amorphous-crystalline
phase transition during the growth of thin lms: the
case of microcrystalline silicon (PDF). Phys. Rev.
B 64 (8): 085402. Bibcode:2001PhRvB..64h5402B.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.64.085402.
[9] W. Ostwald (1897). Studien ber die Umwandlung fester
Krper. Z. Phys. Chem. 22: 289330.

4 Further reading
R. Zallen (1969). The Physics of Amorphous Solids.
Wiley Interscience.
S.R. Elliot (1969). The Physics of Amorphous Materials (2nd ed.). Longman.
N. Cusack (1969). The Physics of Structurally Disordered Matter: An Introduction. IOP Publishing.
N.H. March; R.A. Street; M.P. Tosi, eds. (1969).
Amorphous Solids and the Liquid State. Springer.
D.A. Adler; B.B. Schwartz; M.C. Steele, eds.
(1969). Physical Properties of Amorphous Materials. Springer.
A. Inoue; K. Hasimoto, eds. (1969). Amorphous
and Nanocrystalline Materials. Springer.

5 External links
Journal of non-crystalline solids (Elsevier)

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

Amorphous solid Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphous_solid?oldid=729900973 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Olof, MarXidad,

Andre Engels, Ben-Zin~enwiki, Stevertigo, Ellywa, Glenn, Andres, Smack, Ike9898, Robbot, Jondel, Acegikmo1, Wikibot, Tgiles, Giftlite,
Epton, Hagedis, Orsanyuksek, AHM, JHCC, Deglr6328, Vsmith, Kjoonlee, Edwinstearns, Pinzo, ~K, Maurreen, Jag123, Hooperbloob,
DV8 2XL, Gene Nygaard, Redvers, Ceyockey, Joriki, Woohookitty, Benbest, Polyparadigm, SDC, Evilmoo, Graham87, Rjwilmsi, Syndicate, SMC, FlaBot, LAk loho, Srleer, Chobot, YurikBot, TexasAndroid, Jamesmorrison, BOT-Superzerocool, Jhchang, Eyal0, Schizobullet, TravisTX, FocalPoint, Kmarinas86, DHN-bot~enwiki, Para, Stevenmitchell, Smokefoot, Clicketyclack, John, JorisvS, Zarniwoot,
EXeption, Dr Smith, Courcelles, Stifynsemons, Porterjoh, Neelix, Reywas92, ST47, Odie5533, VPliousnine, Thijs!bot, Vertium, Mumby,
Aadal, AntiVandalBot, Seaphoto, Leftynm, The Transhumanist, MSBOT, Acroterion, Magioladitis, VoABot II, Soulbot, EagleFan, User
A1, Lawrie.skinner, MartinBot, R'n'B, J.delanoy, Carre, Whirling Sands, Auegel, EdC2, Ojovan, VolkovBot, Skaraoke, TXiKiBoT, Alex
rosenberg35, Someguy1221, Flopster2, MackSalmon, Don4of4, LeaveSleaves, Venny85, Enigmaman, MCTales, Serprex, SieBot, Nubiatech, BotMultichill, Matthew Yeager, Keilana, Qst, Faradayplank, WingkeeLEE, Soyseorsnibbles, ClueBot, Uncle Milty, Polyamorph, Zulu
Inuoe, StigBot, Puppy8800, California847, DhananSekhar, HowStellar, DanielPharos, Thingg, BodhisattvaBot, Skarebo, WikiDao, Addbot, Tanhabot, Glane23, SpBot, SPat, WikiDreamer Bot, Peko, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, AnomieBOT, Materialscientist, ArthurBot, Xqbot, Capricorn42, 661kts, Anna Frodesiak, SassoBot, Logger9, Mnmngb, FrescoBot, Citation bot 1, MBirkholz, Tom.Reding,
BigDwiki, 124Nick, Giles247, TheGrimReaper NS, Uchihatobisaga, Marie Poise, Andrea105, RjwilmsiBot, Knuels, Slon02, MrDenberg, John of Reading, Manojhande 2196, Optiguy54, Wikipelli, Dcirovic, John Cline, Josve05a, Traxs7, Fizicist, Erianna, Just granpa,
Tekstovi, Tieo8, ClueBot NG, Ontist, Very trivial, Curb Chain, Calabe1992, Bibcode Bot, BG19bot, MusikAnimal, Zedshort, Shephd,
Egdevoie, Bharu12, SreejanAlapati, YiFeiBot, , Anrnusna, Martinmagnuson, Crystallizedcarbon, KasparBot and Anonymous:
201

6.2

Images

File:Bulk_Metallic_Glass_Sample.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Bulk_Metallic_Glass_Sample.

jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Photo taken in the lab Original artist: George Stobbart
File:Edit-clear.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The
Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the le, specically: Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).
File:Order_and_Connectivity.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Order_and_Connectivity.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Drawn
Previously published: M.I. Ojovan, W.E. Lee. Glassy wasteforms for nuclear waste immobilisation. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 42 (4), 837-851 (2011) Original artist: Ojovan
File:Question_dropshade.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Question_dropshade.png License: Public
domain Contributors: Image created by JRM Original artist: JRM

6.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0