Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Pablo Borbon Main II, Alangilan Batangas City
College of Engineering, Architecture & Fine Arts
www.batstate-u.edu.ph Tel. No. (043) 425-0139 loc. 118

Chemical and Food Engineering Department

DIFFUSION IN SOLIDS

Diffusion - Mass transport by atomic motion

Mechanisms

 Gases & Liquids – random (Brownian) motion

 Solids – vacancy diffusion or interstitial diffusion

Interdiffusion: In an alloy, atoms tend to migrate from regions of high conc. to regions of low
concentration
Self-diffusion: In an elemental solid, atoms also migrate.
Diffusion Mechanisms:
Vacancy Diffusion:
• atoms exchange with vacancies
• applies to substitutional impurities atoms
• rate depends on:
-- number of vacancies
-- activation energy to exchange.
Diffusion Mechanisms
• Interstitial diffusion – smaller atoms can diffuse between atoms.

More rapid than vacancy diffusion

DIFFUSION IN SOLIDS
Diffusion can take place in gases, liquids, or solids. In solids, particularly, diffusion
occurs due to thermally-activated random motion of atoms - unless the material is at absolute
zero temperature (zero Kelvin), individual atoms keep vibrating and eventually move within the
material. One of the possible net effects of diffusion is that atoms move from regions of high
concentration of one element to regions with low concentration, until the concentration is equal
throughout the sample.
HOW DIFFUSION OF SOLIDS WORKS
There are two types of atoms, green and blue. At the beginning, all green atoms are on
the left and the blue atoms are on the right. All the vacancies start out between the two metals.
As atoms move into vacancies, the vacancies disperse. In most real-world scenarios, vacancies
are scattered in the material to begin with. 
Processing Using Diffusion
• Case Hardening:
-- Diffuse carbon atoms into the host iron atoms at the surface.
Example of interstitial diffusion is a case hardened gear.
Result: The presence of C atoms makes iron (steel) harder
Processing Using Diffusion
• Doping silicon with phosphorus for n-type semiconductors:
Process:
1. Deposit P rich layers on surface.

2. Heat it.
3. Result: Doped semiconductor regions.

DIFFUSION
• How do we quantify the amount or rate of diffusion?

• Measured empirically
Make thin film (membrane) of known surface area
Impose concentration gradient
Measure how fast atoms or molecules diffuse through the membrane
Steady-State Diffusion
Rate of diffusion independent of time
Flux proportional to concentration gradient = dC/dX

Fick’s first law of diffusion

dC
J  D
dx
dC C C2  C1
if linear  
dx x x 2  x1
D  diffusion coefficient

Non-steady State Diffusion

• The concentration of diffusing species is a function of both time and position C = C(x,t)
• In this case Fick’s Second Law is used
• Fick’s Second Law
 C  2C
D 2
t x
• Copper diffuses into a bar of aluminum.

Cs

B.C. at t = 0, C = Co for 0  x  
at t > 0, C = CS for x = 0 (constant surface conc.)

C = Co for x = 

Diffusion FASTER for... Diffusion SLOWER for...

• open crystal structures • close-packed structures
• materials w/secondary • materials w/covalent
bonding bonding
• smaller diffusing atoms • larger diffusing atoms
• lower density materials • higher density materials

REFERENCE:
Materials Science and Engineering an Introduction William D. Callister, Jr. Department of
Metallurgical Engineering the University of Utah with special contributions
by David G. Rethwisch
The University of Iowa