Influence of the crystallographic orientation of silicon on the formation of "primary" cracks

Abstract

When the silicon surface is destroyed, clusters of the smallest "primary" cracks are formed. Their formation leads to the appearance of "fractoluminescence" (FL) signals. The FL signals and spectra contained maxima, the number of which is equal to the number of "primary" cracks in the cluster. An analysis of the FL signals and spectra showed that, upon failure of the (100) and (110) surfaces, clusters of four "primary" cracks appeared, and (111) surfaces, of three "primary" cracks. Their sizes were estimated by the growth rate and time. It turned out that they are multiples of the crystal lattice constant a: ~3a, 4a, and 6a. At the moment of formation, "primary" cracks are in a nonequilibrium state and, over time, transform into defects that look like "troughs" and "tops". Their sizes are from 2 to 4 times smaller than the sizes of "primary" cracks. Keywords: silicon, fracture, "primary" cracks, fractoluminescence, interference profilometry.