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The size effect in the mechanical strength of semiconductors and metals: Strain relaxation by dislocation-mediated plastic deformation

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Abstract

The Ph.D. work of Jan H. van der Merwe in 1949 established a new paradigm for the understanding of dislocation dynamics in restricted volumes. This led to a comprehensive understanding of plasticity, or strain relaxation, in the context of strained-layer semiconductor structures. However, this understanding was largely overlooked in the context of traditional metallurgy and micromechanics. We identify four reasons for this, the apparent need for an unstrained substrate in van der Merwe’s theory, the supposed inapplicability to strain gradients, the supposed inapplicability to the Hall–Petch effect (dependence of strength on the inverse square root of grain size), and an emphasis on understanding strain hardening rather than the yield point. Addressing these four points in particular, here it is shown how the insights of van der Merwe and of the earlier work by Lawrence Bragg lead to a coherent and unified view of the size-effect phenomena ranging from the Hall–Petch effect to the strain-gradient plasticity theory.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am indebted to too many collaborators, co-authors and colleagues to acknowledge them all by name, but particular mention must be made of Andy Bushby and the late Tony Kelly, responsible for shifting my interest from semiconductors to include metals, and of Ron Armstrong, Mick Brown, Bill Nix, and the late Tony Evans, whose friendly interest and knowledge of the field has been indispensable whether or not they agree with my conclusions.

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  1. School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK

    David J. Dunstan

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Dunstan, D.J. The size effect in the mechanical strength of semiconductors and metals: Strain relaxation by dislocation-mediated plastic deformation. Journal of Materials Research 32, 4041–4053 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2017.300

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