Size-dependent plasticity and activation parameters of lithographically-produced silicon micropillars

Abstract Silicon is brittle at ambient temperature and pressure, but using micro-scale samples fabricated by focused ion beam (FIB) plasticity has been observed. However, the typical drawbacks of this methodology are FIB-damage and surface amorphization. In this study, the lithography etching was employed to fabricate a large number of 〈100〉-oriented Si pillars with various diameters in the micro-scales. This allowed quantitative study of plasticity and the size effect of FIB-free Si in the brittle temperatures (25–500 °C) by conducting monotonic and transient microcompression in situ in SEM. Lithographic pillars achieved the ideal strength in temperature range of 25–100 °C and displayed significantly higher strengths (30–60%) than FIB-machined pillars because of the undamaged surface and the oxide layer confinement. Activation energy of deformation revealed a transition in dislocation mechanisms as a function of temperature. Strain rate sensitivity and activation volume measured from strain rate jump and stress relaxation indicated the surface nucleation of kink-pairs associated with the constricted dislocation motion in Si during deformation at temperatures below the brittle-ductile transition. A modified analytical model is proposed to accurately evaluate the size-dependent strength of covalent crystalline Si. The weaker size effect observed in Si is attributed to the surface nucleation of dislocations and high lattice friction during their motion.