Crystal growth

Crystal growth is the addition of atoms, ions, or molecules to an ordered solid structure, enlarging a crystal or forming one from a fluid or vapor.

Nucleation: The formation of stable, small clusters that can develop into a new phase. New crystals begin when a particle cluster becomes stable enough to keep growing.
Chemical potential: A thermodynamic quantity describing how a system's free energy changes when matter is added. The chemical-potential difference between fluid and solid drives incorporation at the interface.
Czochralski process: A method for growing single crystals by pulling a seed crystal from a melt. It produces large single-crystal silicon boules for semiconductor wafers.
Ostwald ripening: The growth of larger particles at the expense of smaller ones through material transfer. It enlarges crystals by dissolving smaller ones rather than adding material uniformly from a reservoir.
Crystal facet: A flat surface region of a crystal bounded by edges and meeting other facets at specific angles. Different facets expose different atomic arrangements and can grow at different rates.
Crystal lattice: A periodic arrangement of points representing the repeating order in a crystal. Growth extends a lattice by placing new particles into compatible positions.
Chemical vapor deposition: A process that forms solid films through chemical reactions of vapor-phase precursors. It grows crystalline coatings and thin films from reactive gases.
Vapor deposition: A process that forms a solid coating from vapor-phase material on a surface. It is a broad family of deposition methods, while crystal growth specifically concerns ordered solid formation.
Step-flow growth: A crystal-growth mode in which surface steps advance as particles attach to their ledges. It describes how arriving particles extend terraces without creating new layers across entire facets.
Interfacial energy: The free-energy cost per unit area of a boundary between two phases. Creating crystal surface costs energy, affecting nucleation and the shapes that grow.

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