Chemical order in amorphous silicon carbide

While ordering in alloy crystals is well understood, short-range ordering in amorphous alloys remains controversial. Here, by studying computer-generated models of amorphous SiC, we show that there are two principal factors controlling the degree of chemical order in amorphous covalent alloys. One, the chemical preference for mixed bonds, is much the same in crystalline and amorphous materials. However, the other factor, the atomic size difference, is far less effective at driving ordering in amorphous material than in the crystal. As a result, the amorphous phase may show either strong ordering (as in GaAs), or weaker ordering (as in SiC), depending upon the relative importance of these two factors.