Molecular dynamics study of temperature effect on deformation behavior of m-plane 4H–SiC film by nanoindentation

Abstract

In this study, the effect of temperature on the nanoscale mechanical properties and deformation mechanism of m-plane 4H–SiC film was investigated by nanoindentation. Simulation results show that the hardness decreases as the temperature increases, while the pile-up events that appear in the indentation process become more obvious. The atomic displacement and strain enhance with increasing temperature, promoting the nucleation and propagation of dislocations in the main slip system, with the formation of prismatic dislocation loops moving along the two <112‾0> directions. Moreover, increasing the temperature not only increases dislocation density but also strengthens plastic deformation. This work contributes to the comprehensive understanding of temperature effect on the mechanical properties and deformation behavior of 4H–SiC film at the nanoscale when subjected to external loads.