Energies of (001) twist grain boundaries in silicon

Abstract Boundary energies of silicon have been measured on (001) twist boundaries. Bicrystals were made by sintering, and then wetted with Sn liquid to form surface grooves at grain boundaries at 1473 K. The boundary energies were evaluated relative to solid–liquid interfacial energies by a dihedral angle method on the surface grooves. Shallow energy cusps at coincidence site lattice (CSL) misorientations were found. Cusps were classified into two groups with respect to the cusp width: narrow and wide. The energy of the general boundaries varies discontinuously with misorientation angle across CSL misorientations observed for wide cusps, and CSL misorientations divide misorientation regions with respect to energies.