Abstract
The indentation-induced deformation mechanisms in InP(100) single crystals were investigated by using nanoindentation and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) techniques. The results indicated that there were multiple “pop-in” events randomly distributed in the loading curves, which were conceived to arise primarily from the dislocation nucleation and propagation activities. An energetic estimation on the number of nanoindentation-induced dislocations associated with pop-in effects is discussed. Furthermore, the fracture patterns were performed by Vickers indentation. The fracture toughness and the fracture energy of InP(100) single crystals were calculated to be around 1.2 MPa·m1/2 and 14.1 J/m2, respectively.
Highlights
Nowadays, nanoindentation is extensively used to characterize the mechanical properties and elastic or plastic deformation behaviors of various nanoscale materials [1–6] and thin films [7–12]
From the nanoindentation responses manifested in the load-displacement (P-h) curves, one can obtain the primary mechanical characteristics of the materials being measured
The onset of plastic deformation behaviors in crystalline materials is often characterized by sudden bursts of displacements at a nearly constant indentation load in the P-h curves
Summary
Nanoindentation is extensively used to characterize the mechanical properties (such as hardness and elastic modulus) and elastic or plastic deformation behaviors of various nanoscale materials [1–6] and thin films [7–12]. As mentioned above, when a spherical indenter with a larger tip radius was used, only a single “pop-in” event was observed [21] This discrepancy, as we discussed above, might originate primarily from the differences in operating modes and the geometric shape of the indenter being used to probe the nanoindentation properties of the same material. The other feature to be noted is that no evidence of reverse discontinuities in the unloading segment (the so-called “pop-out”) can be identified in the present case This indicates that the pressure-induced phase transformation commonly observed in single-crystal silicon [33] is probably not happening in InP, the zincblende crystalline structure of InP is not that different from the diamond structure of Si. In any case, in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying indentation-induced deformation mechanism, direct microstructural investigations such as SEM and XTEM analyses are certainly indispensable
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