Application of Avrami’s Equation to the Conductivity Changes of Amorphous Selenium

Abstract

The conductivity changes associated with the isothermal annealing of amorphous selenium are due mainly to crystallization. Direct measurements of these changes were conducted, and the experimental data was applied in Avrami’s equation in an attempt to evaluate the constant (n), which depends on the crystallization geometry. The crystallization constant (k), as well as the energy of crystallization (E) at different temperatures were calculated on the basis of the constant (n). For an average value of $\bar n = 1.38$ the energy of crystallization was found to be 15.1 kcal/mol. The obtained fractional values of the constant (n) suggest that the crystallization of selenium is not a purely one dimensional process.