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The Anomalous Behavior of Silicon During Nanoindentation

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Abstract

Two separate phenomena occur during the low-load indentation of silicon which make its behavior distinctly different from that of most materials. First, silicon is one of only a very few materials whose hardness exceeds the pressure needed to transform it to a denser crystalline (or amorphous) form, and because of this, a reversible, pressure-induced phase transformation occurs during indentation. The transformation enhances the electrical conductivity of the material and creates a region around the indenter which flows like a soft metal. Second, silicon cracks when indented by a Berkovich or Vickers indenter at loads of less than 100 mN, i.e., loads typically used in nanoindentation experiments. These two phenomena, which account for a number of unusual features in the indentation load-displacement behavior, are documented and discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Renewable Energy, Office of Transportation Technologies, as part of the Ceramic Technology for Advanced Heat Engines Project of the Advanced Materials Development Program, under contract DE-AC05-84OR21400 with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., by the SHaRE program under contract DE-AC05-76OR00033 with Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and by the Office of Transportation Technologies, as part of the High Temperature Materials Laboratory User Program, under contract DE-AC05-84OR21400 managed by Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. The author would also like to acknowledge the numerous individuals who have collaborated with him on this work, particularly, Warren Oliver, Scott Harding, David Clarke, Robert Cook, Peter Kirchner, Cristi Kroll, and Tim Dinger.

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  1. Department of Materials Science, Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX, 77251

    G. M. Pharr

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Pharr, G.M. The Anomalous Behavior of Silicon During Nanoindentation. MRS Online Proceedings Library 239, 301–312 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-239-301

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