Grain growth in bismuth coatings

The values for activation energy and diffusion coefficient are needed for a predictive processing of grain size in bismuth coatings. A method is adopted wherein the grain size is measured for isothermally deposited coatings. The measured exponent for grain growth with time indicates that ideal grain growth behavior is followed over the temperature range of deposition. The activation energy for grain growth in bismuth is determined as 0.47 eV atom−1 with a diffusion coefficient of 3.3 × 10−4 cm2 s−1.