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Contact fatigue of silicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Sanjit Bhowmick ,
Juan José Meléndez-Martínez  and
Brian R. Lawn
Sanjit Bhowmick
Affiliation:
Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8520
Juan José Meléndez-Martínez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Física, Universidad de Extremadura, 06071 Badajoz, Spain
Brian R. Lawn*
Affiliation:
Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8520
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: brian.lawn@nist.gov
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Abstract

Macroscopic cracks in bulk silicon are generally considered to be immune to fatigue. Here, evidence for pronounced fracture-related fatigue damage in cyclic contact loading of (001) monocrystalline silicon with hard spheres of millimeter-scale radius is presented. The periodic indentation field generates ring cracks around the contact, which proliferate with continued cycling. Copious debris in the form of slabs and particulates is ejected from within the crack walls onto the specimen surface. Continued ejection leads ultimately to large-scale surface removal. The fatigue damage progressively degrades the material strength, more rapidly at higher contact load. Implications concerning the function of silicon devices, including microelectro-mechanical systems, will be briefly discussed.

Keywords

FractureFatigueSi
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , April 2008 , pp. 1175 - 1184
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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References

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