Thermal treatment-induced ductile-to-brittle transition of submicron-sized Si pillars fabricated by focused ion beam

Journal Article · Mon Feb 23 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4913241· OSTI ID:22412686

Wang, Yue-cun; Xie, De-gang; Ning, Xiao-hui; Shan, Zhi-wei ^[1]

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1. Center for Advancing Materials Performance from the Nanoscale (CAMP-Nano) and Hysitron Applied Research Center in China (HARCC), State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049 (China)

Si pillars fabricated by focused ion beam (FIB) had been reported to have a critical size of 310–400 nm, below which their deformation behavior would experience a brittle-to-ductile transition at room temperature. Here, we demonstrated that the size-dependent transition was actually stemmed from the amorphous Si (a-Si) shell introduced during the FIB fabrication process. Once the a-Si shell was crystallized, Si pillars would behave brittle again with their modulus comparable to their bulk counterpart. The analytical model we developed has been proved to be valid in deriving the moduli of crystalline Si core and a-Si shell.

• OSTI ID: 22412686
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
AMORPHOUS STATE
BRITTLE-DUCTILE TRANSITIONS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CRITICAL SIZE
CRYSTALS
DEFORMATION
DUCTILE-BRITTLE TRANSITIONS
FABRICATION
HEAT TREATMENTS
ION BEAMS
SILICON
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K