Paper
A paper submitted for Self-Assembly and Nanotechnology with Dr. Zhiyong Gu, 6 May 2013. Per the requirements of the project, futher research was proposed, but not conducted.
Various methods of crystal growth are reviewed, considering solid, melt, solution, and vapor phase growth methods, as well as more exotic methods. The commonalities between the mechanisms of these different methods is also considered. Recent developments in the theory of near-equilibrium crystal growth are examined more in-depth, and an experiment is proposed towards an empirical understanding of the genesis of screw dislocations, integral to spiral growth patterns which predominate at near-equilibrium conditions. The experiment measures the formation of these dislocations in gold crystals grown from solution, on a substrate that has no initial dislocations. This is achieved by using a gold-functionalized Langmuir-Blodgett film for a substrate, as compared with a normal cloven gold substrate.
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