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The PN model discussed in the preceding chapter is a continuum approach that requires some atomistic input to account for non-linear interactions in the dislocation core. In this chapter, we introduce yet another continuum model that uses atomistic input for a different purpose. The kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) model does not consider any details of the core structure but instead focuses on dislocation motion on length and time scales far greater than those of the atomistic simulations. The model is especially effective for diamond-cubic semiconductors and other materials in which dislocation motion is too slow to be observed on the time scale of molecular dynamics simulations. The key idea of the kMC approach is to treat dislocation motion as a stochastic sequence of discrete rare events whose mechanisms and rates are computed within the framework of the transition state theory. Built around its unit mechanisms, the kMC model simulates dislocation motion and predicts dislocation velocity as a function of stress and temperature. This data then can be used to construct accurate mobility functions for dislocation dynamics simulations on still larger scales (Chapter 10). In this sense, kMC serves as a link between atomistic models and coarse-grained continuum models of dislocations. The kMC approach is most useful in situations where the system evolves through a stochastic sequence of events with only a few possible event types. The method has been used in a wide variety of applications other than dislocations. For example, the growth of solid thin films from vapor or in solution is known to proceed through attachment and diffusion of adatoms deposited on the surface. Based on a finite set of unit mechanisms of the motion of adatoms, kMC models accurately describe the kinetics of growth and the resulting morphology evolution of the epitaxial films [95, 96, 97]. Similar kMC models have been applied to dislocation motion in crystals with high lattice resistance, such as silicon. In these materials, dislocations consist of long straight segments interspersed with atomic-sized kinks, depicted schematically in Fig. 9.1(a) as short vertical segments. As was explained in Section 1.3, dislocation motion proceeds through nucleation and migration of kink pairs and can be described well by a kMC model.

The phase field method (PFM) can be used as an approach to dislocation dynamics simulations alternative to the line DD method discussed in Chapter 10. The degrees of freedom in PFM are continuous smooth fields occupying the entire simulation volume, and dislocations are identified with locations where the field values change rapidly. As we will see later, as an approach to dislocation dynamics simulations PFM holds several advantages. First, it is easier to implement into a computer code than a line DD model. In particular, the complex procedures for making topological changes (Section 10.4) are no longer necessary. Second, the implementation of PFM can take advantage of well-developed and efficient numerical methods for solving partial differential equations (PDEs). Another important merit of PFM is its applicability in a wide range of seemingly different situations. For example, it is possible to simulate the interaction and co-evolution of several types of material microstructures, such as dislocations and alloying impurities, within a unified model. PFM has become popular among physicists and materials scientists over the last 20 years, but as a numerical method it is not new. After all, it is all about solving PDEs on a grid. Numerical integration of PDEs is a vast and mature area of computational mathematics. A number of efficient methods have already been developed, such as the finite difference method [121], the finite element method [122], and spectral methods [123], all of which have been used in PFM simulations. The relatively new aspects of PFM are associated with the method’s formulation and applications, which are partly driven by the growing interest in understanding material microstructures. In Section 11.1, we begin with the general aspects of PFM demonstrated by two simple applications of the method not related to dislocations. Section 11.2 describes the elements required to adapt PFM to dislocation simulations. There we will briefly venture into the field of micromechanics and consider the concept of eigenstrain. The elastic energy of an arbitrary eigenstrain field is derived in Section 11.3. Section 11.4 discusses an example in which the PFM equations for dislocations are solved using the fast Fourier transform method.

At each change of length-sale in a material new science emerges. The reductionist approach focuses on the atomic and electronic length scales in the belief that a fundamental understanding can be achieved only at this smallest scale. It is blind to the emergence of science no less fundamental at larger length scales resulting from interactions between very large numbers of atoms and defects. While the atomic scale always remains important, a complete understanding of plastic deformation and fracture involves long-range interactions between defects described by the theory of elasticity. Even the mechanism of electronic conduction in a metal changes from ballistic transport at the nanoscale to the diffusive transport of Ohm’s law at the macroscale.