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Nanoindentation cracking in gallium arsenide: Part I. In situ SEM nanoindentation

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Abstract

The nanoindentation fracture behavior of gallium arsenide (GaAs) is examined from two perspectives in two parent papers. The first paper (part I) focuses on in situ nanoindentation within a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and on fractographic observations of cleaved cross-sections of indented regions to investigate the crack field under various indenter geometries. In the second parent paper (part II), cathodoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy are used to investigate the relationship between dislocation and crack fields. The combination of instrumented in situ scanning electron microscopy nanoindentations and cleavage cross-sectioning allows us to establish a detailed map of cracking in the indented region and cracking kinetics for conical and wedge indenter shapes. For wedge nanoindentations, the evolution of the half-penny crack size with the indentation load is interpreted using a simple linear elastic fracture model based on weight functions. Fracture toughness estimates obtained by this technique fall within the range of usual values quoted for GaAs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Empa, Swiss Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing, 3602, Thun, Switzerland

    Kilian Wasmer & Jean-Marc Breguet

  2. Empa, Swiss Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Mechanics of Materials and Nanostructures, 3602, Thun, Switzerland

    Cédric Pouvreau

  3. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Laboratory for Mechanical Systems Design, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Cédric Pouvreau

  4. EPFL, Laboratory for Mechanical Systems Design, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Johann Michler

  5. Department Advanced Technologies, Bookham AG, CH-8045, Zürich, Switzerland

    Daniel Schulz

  6. Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Laboratory for Mechanical Systems Design, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Jacques Henri Giovanola

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  1. Kilian Wasmer
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  2. Cédric Pouvreau
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  3. Jean-Marc Breguet
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  4. Johann Michler
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  5. Daniel Schulz
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  6. Jacques Henri Giovanola
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Correspondence to Kilian Wasmer.

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Both authors have contributed equally to this work.

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Wasmer, K., Pouvreau, C., Breguet, JM. et al. Nanoindentation cracking in gallium arsenide: Part I. In situ SEM nanoindentation. Journal of Materials Research 28, 2785–2798 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2013.252

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2013.252

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