Fig. 3: Re-crystallization behavior and aligned nucleation.
From: Stoichiometry-engineered phase transition in a two-dimensional binary compound
a A schematic diagram of intermediate phase nucleation and growth from polycrystalline Pd10Te3 thin films. b The SAED pattern of the Pd10Te3 phase displays multiple sets of diffraction lattices (polycrystalline). The bright diffraction spots correspond to Bragg reflections from crystalline planes, with intensity proportional to the structure factor of the respective planes. c The SAED pattern of the intermediate phase exhibits a single set of rectangular lattice, indicating a single crystal structure within the region. d Low-magnification STEM image at the interface between Pd10Te3 and the intermediate phase, showing seamless integration of nanocrystals spanning tens of nanometers between Pd10Te3 and the intermediate phase. e Atomic-resolution STEM image at the interface between Pd10Te3 and the intermediate phase. f, g Phase distribution and corresponding IPF X-map of the PdTe nucleation region. Based on the orientation of the PdTe nucleations, this region can be divided into three parts labeled by the white dashed lines. h, i Atomic-resolution HAADF-STEM images of the interface between Pd9Te4 and PdTe at different nucleations marked by the white box in (f). j and k, the corresponding FFT images taken from (h, i) which show the same lattice orientation relationship.
