Dislocation Energetics and Pop-Ins in AlN Thin Films by Berkovich Nanoindentation

Materials

Sheng-Rui Jian¹  Yu-Chin Tseng¹  I-Ju Teng² 

[1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, I-Shou University, Main Campus: No.1, Sec. 1, Syuecheng Rd., Dashu District, Kaohsiung City 84001, Taiwan; E-Mail:;Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan; E-Mails:

关键词: nanoindentation;    pop-ins;    AlN thin films;    transmission electron microscopy;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ma6094259

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Nanoindentation-induced multiple pop-ins were observed in the load-displacement curves when the mechanical responses of AlN films grown on c-plane sapphire substrates were investigated by using Berkovich indenters. No evidence of phase transformation is revealed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) and selected area diffraction (SAD) analyses. Instead XTEM observations suggest that these “instabilities” resulted from the sudden nucleation of dislocations propagating along the slip systems lying on the {0001} basal planes and the {101¯1} pyramidal planes commonly observed in hexagonal compound semiconductors. Based on this scenario, an energetic estimation of dislocation nucleation is made.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.