The relationship between crystal growth and defect structure: a study of potassium hydrogen phthalate using x-ray topography and atomic force microscopy

An investigation of the defect structure of crystals of potassium hydrogen phthalate (KAP) and its relationship to the crystallization behaviour has been carried out using x-ray diffraction topography and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Crystals of KAP grown from aqueous solution were found to exhibit very low defect densities in the range 5 to 15 cm(-2) and remarkably low levels of strain. The character and distribution of the dominant growth dislocation types were determined using x-ray topography. The most significant features of the dislocation structure were a tendency for certain dislocation types to nucleate in pairs and at growth sector boundaries. X-ray topography revealed sectorial variations in solvent inclusions and the complementary use of AFM has shown the relationship of this to growth spiral anisotropy on the (010) face of KAP crystals. Changes in KAP crystal morphology have been observed which result from extreme variations in dislocation density, leading to either spiral growth or, in the case of dislocation-free growth sectors, a two-dimensional nucleation mechanism. The bending of dislocations from one growth sector to another and the tendency of dislocations in this material to nucleate in pairs are discussed in the context of size-dependent crystal growth rates.