Conditions for direct formation of glassy,liquid or crystalline condensates

Some aspects of the thermodynamics and kinetics of the condensation process are analysed in details. The conditions for the predominant formation of crystalline, liquid or glassy condensates are investigated by taking into account an effect which up to now has been omitted. This effect is the size dependence of the melting point of small crystalline clusters and its influence on the nature of the initially formed phase. The possibility for secondary crystallization of small undercooled droplets is also taken into consideration. This new model is compared with the assumption that the nucleation rate determines directly the predominant formation of a given phase.A critical discussion as well as a brief review of some experimental data confirm the advantages of the proposed treatment.