Nanoscale dynamics at reactive wetting front on SiC

Nanoscale singularity at the reactive wetting front on SiC (0006) was studied using video recorded in situ to clarify the dynamic atomistic behaviours of the brazing and the molten tip spreading on a high-temperature stage of a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. An atomistic process controls the wetting at the front of the spreading film where the classical macroscopic phenomenon never holds true and the singularities are observed in a precursor film. A 0.5-nm-thick precursor film spreading ahead of the main molten alloy on SiC (0006) at 1073 K and continuous spreading of the molten alloy were clearly observed on the SiC (0006) surface with a less than 1-nm-thick amorphous layer. Molten Ti and TiC nanolayers preceded the Ti₅Si₃ nanolayer at the tip and they traveled continuously at a velocity of 14 nm/sec on the plane perpendicular to SiC (0006). Since Ti atoms in the molten alloy diffuse sufficiently rapidly on the SiC surface to the tip, the formation of these layers may be the rate-determining step of spreading. Discontinuous spreading of the precursor tip on SiC (0006) with a thick amorphous film was observed in contrast to the continuous spreading on SiC with a thin film. This suggests that the spreading of the Ti molten alloy on SiC is also controlled by the dissolution of the amorphous layer.