Spreading and solidification behavior of molten Si droplets impinging on substrates Original Research Article

This paper focuses on an effect of initial undercoolings on the spreading and solidification behavior of Si dropped on a silicon wafer, which was directly observed through it by the infrared imaging system. For an overheated droplet, the melt spreading occurred first and solidified later. The final splat shape was a typical disc. On the other hand, for a droplet with large initial undercooling, the solidification took place at the faster rate than the melt spreading, which resulted in a spherical shape of final splat. It is indicated that the final shape is considerably affected by the initial undercooling in the measurable-scale experiment with large droplets (∼mm size) and low impingement rates (∼m/s order). Moreover, equiaxed grains were found throughout the quenched surface by an electron backscatter pattern analysis. That is, the microstructure formation was nucleation-controlled since the growth parallel to the substrate was suppressed by the time-dependent contact of melt/substrate governed by the melt deformation.