Influence of nanometre‐sized notch and water on the fracture behaviour of single crystal silicon microelements

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The influence of a notch and a water environment on the quasi‐static and fatigue fracture behaviour was investigated in single crystal silicon microelements. The tests were conducted in smooth and notched microcantilever beam samples. Smooth specimens were prepared by micromachining (photo‐etching) of (110) silicon wafers. For some specimens, a nanometre‐sized notch was machined 100 μm away from the sample root by using a focused ion beam system. A machining condition was optimized, and the V‐shaped notch was successfully introduced. The radius of curvature of the notch, measured by an atomic force microscope (AFM), decreased with an increase in notch depth, and ranged from about 20 to 100 nm. Single‐crystal Si microelements deformed elastically until final failure, which was of a brittle nature. The maximum fracture strength of a smooth microcantilever specimen reached about 7.7 GPa, which was higher than that obtained in millimetre‐sized single crystal Si samples. However, the fracture strength decreased with an increase in notch depth, even though the notch depth was of the order of a nanometre. This means that a nanometre deep notch, which is often regarded as surface roughness in ordinary‐sized mechanical components, caused a decrease in the fracture strength of Si microelements. The fracture initiated at the notch, and then the {111} crack propagated in the direction normal to the sample surface. Fatigue tests were also conducted in laboratory air and in pure water at a stress cycle frequency of 0.1 Hz and a stress ratio of 0.1. In laboratory air, no fatigue damage was observed even though the surface was nanoscopically examined by an AFM. However, when the fatigue tests were conducted in pure water, the fatigue lives in water were decreased. Crack formation on the {111} plane was promoted by a synergistic effect of the dynamic loading and the water environment. Atomic force microscopy was capable of imaging the nanoscopic cracks, which caused failure in water.