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Ultra-micro-indentation of silicon and compound semiconductors with spherical indenters

journal contribution
posted on 1999-06-01, 00:00 authored by J S Williams, Ying (Ian) ChenYing (Ian) Chen, J Wong-Leung, A Kerr, M V Swain
Details of microindentation of silicon, such as the semiconductor-to-metal transformation, which takes place on loading, have been examined using spherical indenters. Various forms of silicon are studied, including heavily boron-doped wafers and silicon damaged and amorphized by ion implantation as well as material containing dislocations. Results indicate that only silicon, which contains high concentrations of point defects or is amorphous, exhibits mechanical properties that differ significantly from undoped, defect-free crystal. Amorphous silicon exhibits plastic flow under low indentation pressures and does not appear to undergo phase transformation on loading and unloading. Indentation of compound semiconductors is also studied and the load/unload behavior at room temperature is quite different from that of silicon. Both gallium arsenide and indium phosphide, for example, undergo slip-induced plasticity above a critical load.

History

Journal

Journal of materials research

Volume

14

Issue

6

Pagination

2338 - 2343

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Location

New York, N.Y.

ISSN

0884-2914

eISSN

2044-5326

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

1999, Materials Research Society