Capillarity-driven migration of a thin Ge wedge in contact with a bicrystalline Au film

We have investigated the retraction of a single-crystalline Ge wedge in epitaxial contact with a bicrystalline Au film using in situ electron microscopy. The rate of retraction was close to that predicted for capillarity-driven surface diffusion, following kinetics proportional to tn, with n = 0.22–0.35, but crystal anisotropy caused migration to be significantly faster along 〈1 0 0〉 directions than along 〈1 1 0〉. The bicrystalline Au substrate was not inert, but underwent abnormal grain growth in the area swept by the receding Ge wedge. Cross-sections made from plan-view transmission electron microscopy samples revealed that this was related to ridge formation during the retraction process. In situ observations of the process in an inclined orientation showed direct evidence of substrate grain boundaries being dragged by the receding Ge wedge. The results can be understood in the framework of capillarity models for isotropic solid-state wedges and reactive wetting in high-temperature liquid–solid experiments.