Criteria of kinetic suppression of lateral growth of intermediate phases

In many cases, the formation of intermediate phases in solid-state reaction starts from nucleation, proceeds at first by lateral spreading along interface in the form of narrow layer and after that continues slow growth in normal direction. So far, the lateral growth stage was considered as something almost instant. Yet, if the emerging phase is not the first one and the already growing phase layer has high diffusivity, the lateral growth can be also kinetically suppressed due to ‘sucking out’ of atoms from the moving interface into the growing first phase layer. Criteria of such suppression are formulated and examples of real systems are discussed.