AVS 50th International Symposium
    Nanometer Structures Monday Sessions
       Session NS-MoM

Paper NS-MoM10
Nanocrystalline Structures in Amorphous Silica

Monday, November 3, 2003, 11:20 am, Room 316

Session: Quantum Dots and Nanoscale Devices
Presenter: J.Y. Cheng, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Authors: J.Y. Cheng, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
M.M.J. Treacy, NEC Research Institute
P.J. Keblinski, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
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We conduct the metamict transformation of crystalline silica in a transmission electron microscope. In this experiment, an alpha quartz crystal was transformed into an amorphous phase by electron irradiation at high dose. In the meantime, diffraction patterns of these phases were taken throughout the process. After that, we measured image fluctuations in dark field for the amorphous structure. From the images, the amorphous silica is "nanocrystalline." From the diffraction patterns, these crystallites are randomly oriented. Our results also show that the original alpha phase has ultimately disappeared in the new structure.