The growth of a three dimensional layer by diffusion

✍ Scribed by M.F. Bell; J.A. Harrison

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1973
• Weight: 135 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-0728
• DOI: 10.1016/s0022-0728(73)80500-5

✦ Synopsis

No model has appeared in the literature which describes the nucleation and growth of a three dimensional layer at constant potential under diffusion conditions. This is an important problem in metal deposition and the growth of anodic films. The transient ultimately contains information about the number and distribution of nuclei and their geometry. The early stages of growth are inaccessible to other methods of investigation.

Two crude models are available which describe the current at short times into isolated nuclei. One assumes that the diffusion layer grows as the nucleus grows 1' v, the other 1,2 that the nucleus grows into a fixed diffusion layer. There is some experimental evidence 2' 3 that nuclei can grow by these mechanisms depending on the circumstances. The available models for other situations have been reviewed 4' 5