Study of the amorphous phase of silicon using molecular dynamics simulation techniques

The authors have used molecular dynamics simulation techniques to study the properties of the amorphous phase of silicon. Several amorphous silicon samples have been prepared at different temperatures. The changes in the density, internal energy, structure, diffusion coefficients and recrystallization behavior of the amorphous phase have been extracted from the simulations as a function of temperature. The analysis of the results showed that, for temperatures between the amorphous and crystal melting points, there exists an intermediate phase which shares some of the properties of the amorphous and liquid silicon.