The growth mechanism and morphology of hydrothermally grown oxide compounds: fractal approach

摘要

Single crystals of Fe2O3 (haematite), Be3Al2Si6O18 (beryl) have been grown on seeds from hydrothermal solutions. Optical microscopy and AFM have been used for the study of the growth morphology of atomically smooth faces of single crystals as well as of the surfaces growing in accordance with the regeneration growth mechanism. Profiles of the crystallization front have been obtained for different directions of crystallization. Their analysis has shown that the growth morphology may be numerically characterized using the elements of fractal theory. The calculated values of the fractal dimensions are different for layer-by-layer growth and regeneration growth. For beryl single crystals, fractal analysis of the growth surface has been carried out and numerical fractal characteristics have been obtained using the area-perimeter method.