Electromigration Equations
When a current passes through a conductor, forces
act on the particles of a metallic solution due to 1) the presence of an
electric field and 2) the scattering of conduction electrons by ions. The Fifield
field forces depend on the true charges of the ions. Obviously, Fifield
= eEzi , where e is the elementary charge, E is the field strength.
By this relation we determine the "true" charge of the ion zi.
The concept of the “true” charge z in a metal is not simple and is determined
by the type of experiment in which this charge is observed [13]. It was shown in [31]
that the true charge z is equal to the number of electrons donated to the
conduction band per atom (or the number of holes in the valence band with the
opposite sign) if the contribution of Umklapp processes is small. There are no
Umklapp processes in liquid and amorphous systems [25],
so that z can be taken equal to the number of collectivized electrons per atom
of the liquid metal, if no other specific effects inherent in the liquid
appear.
The second type of forces acting on metal ions are
the electron wind forces, which depend on the scattering of conduction
electrons on ions. Let us denote by σ
i the cross section of the
scattering of conduction electrons by the i -th ion. The connection of these
forces with the scattering cross sections was first established
quantum-mechanically by V.B. Fiks [3]:
It is important that this formula can be obtained
without introducing into consideration the details of the interaction of ions
with electrons, but only taking into account the proportionality between the
electron wind force, the field strength, the electron scattering cross section,
and the condition of mechanical equilibrium. Let us consider the monogenic
multicomponent solutions, in which all particles of a given component behave in
the same way [4,6]. Let's put:
where i is the number of the component, and q is
the coefficient unknown so far. The total force of the electron wind acting on
all particles of the solution can be written:
where n
i is the number of particles of
the i-th component, and the sum is taken over all components. Since the
conductor as a whole is neutral, the total force acting on it from the electric
current must be equal to zero. Therefore, the condition of mechanical
equilibrium of all ions in an electric field looks like this:
or
Let us divide this equality by the total number of
atoms/ions n
a. The n
i/n
a ratios are the mole
fractions X
i. From here we find q:
Superscript symbols indicate average values. The
mean cross section is related to the mean free path by the formula naL= 1 (see above). Consequently, q = naL = nL, and substituting into (11) we
obtain V.B. Fiks formula (10).
So, the total force acting on the i -th ion is
equal to
Let's call the value in brackets the effective
charge of the i -th ion
:
This expression is the
basic electromigration equation. With respect to monogenic solutions, it is accurate and does not require any corrections. The total force acting on the i-th ion is:
The total force acting on the all particles of a binary solution is equal to zero:
For the ratio of scattering cross sections, it follows from (12):
Let us write expressions for the effective charges of the components of a binary monogenic solution of any concentration. In this case,
= X
1σ
1 + X
2σ
2 и
= X
1z
1 + X
2z
2. Substituting these formulas into relation (12), we obtain
or
Similarly, for the second component we find: . We see that the effective charges are determined by the true charges of the ions and the ratio of the cross sections for the scattering of conduction electrons on the ions of the components.
As an example,
Figure 2 shows the effective charges during electromigration in the Bi-Cd binary system at 300°C. The measurements were carried out in vertical glass capillaries with an inner diameter of about 1 mm and a length of 40 mm, with a direct current of 1 A. The steady state was achieved after annealing for several days [
6,
13], with Cd ions moving upwards. After rapid cooling, the metal wire-like samples were removed from the capillary, cut into pieces 4 mm long, and analyzed chemically or radiochemically. The effective charge was calculated according to the equation [
4,
13]:
where x is the sample length coordinate, a
i is the thermodynamic activity of the i -th component, E is the field strength, e is the elementary charge, k is the Boltzmann constant, T - temperature.
If in a given binary metallic system the ion charges z
i and the scattering cross section ratios σ
2/σ
1 do not depend on the concentration, then the expressions for the effective charges have the form:
and accordingly for
. By measuring the concentration dependence of effective charges, one can calculate the ratios
and estimate the ion charges z
i. In the case of the Cd-Bi system, the effective charges at 300°C are well described by the expression [
4,
13]:
= -1.286 XCd / (1 - 0.902 XCd ), in the system Bi-Pb in the system Cd-Pb , in the system Bi-Sn , in the system Pb-Sn
The cross section ratios σ
B/σ
A can be calculated using formulas (15) and (16). These ratios may depend on the concentration.
Figure 3 shows the concentration dependences of the ratios σ
B/σ
A for some binary systems. These data can be used to estimate the average values of σ
B/σ
A. For Sn-Cd, Bi-Cd, Bi-Sn, Pb-Cd, Pb-Sn, Bi-Pb systems, they are 0.30, 0.13, 0.46, 0.23, 0.81, 0.64, respectively [
4]. If three binary systems formed by three components A, B, and C are studied at the same temperature, then the values σ
A/σ
B, σ
B/σ
C, and σ
C/σ
A can be determined for these systems. Their product must be equal to 1.00. For the Cd-Sn-Pb triangle we get 0.30*0.46/0.13 = 1.06, for the Cd-Pb-Bi triangle we find 0.23*0.64/0.13 = 1.13, for the Sn-Pb-Bi triangle we find 0.81*0.64/0.46 = 1.12. The deviations from unity are reasonable here.
Based on the estimated ratios of the cross sections σ
2/σ
1 given above, it is possible to calculate the ratios of the electrical resistances for pairs of pure liquid metals using the Sommerfeld equation (5). They are shown in
Table 1.
It can be seen that in the above cases of the simplest eutectic systems, equation (5) gives an error of up to 20-30%, so its significant refinements are required.
So, the electrical resistance/conductivity of a metal is expressed in terms of the average electron scattering cross section on ions, and the effective charges are expressed in terms of the ratios σ2/σ1. Obviously, these phenomena are connected with each other, and it is required to find more exact correlations between them.