Thermodynamic and surface properties of liquid Ge–Si alloys

In the present work, the surface tension of liquid Si and Ge has been measured by the pendant/sessile drop combined method over the temperature range of 1723–1908 K and 1233–1313 K, respectively. The new surface tension data, the molar volumes and the melting temperatures of silicon and germanium as well as the excess Gibbs energy data of the Ge–Si liquid phase are the inputs for Calphad type modelling to study the mixing behaviour in alloy melts. The energetics of mixing in liquid Ge–Si system has been analysed through the study of the concentration dependence of various thermodynamic (activity, enthalpy of mixing, Gibbs energy of mixing), surface (surface tension and surface composition) and transport (diffusivity) properties as well as the microscopic functions (concentration fluctuations in the long-wavelength limit and chemical short-range order parameter) in the framework of statistical mechanical theory in conjunction with the Quasi-Lattice Theory (QLT).