Effect of coherency strain on the deformation of In x Ga1− x As superlattices under nanoindentation and bending

It has been shown elsewhere that the room temperature yield pressure of In _x Ga_{1? x} As superlattices measured by nanoindentation, decreases from a high value as the volume averaged strain modulation is increased, while at 500°C under uniaxial compression or tension the yield stress increases from a low value with increasing strain modulation. We have used cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy to examine the deformation mechanisms in these two loading regimes. At room temperature both twinning and dislocation flow was found with the proportion of twinning decreasing with increasing strain modulation. The coherency strain of the superlattice is retained in a twin but partially relaxed by dislocation flow. The strain energy released by the loss of coherency assists dislocation flow and weakens the superlattice. Twins are only nucleated when a critical elastic shear of about 7° is achieved at the surface. The plastic zone dimensions under the indent are finite at the yield point, with a width and depth of approximately 1.3?µm and 1.1?µm respectively. Under uniaxial compression and tension at 500°C the superlattices deform by dislocation flow along {111} planes. The most highly strained samples also partially relax through the formation of misfit dislocations.     

Edge misfit dislocations in GexSi1 ? x/Si(001) (x ～ 1) heterostructures: role of buffer GeySi1 ? y (y < x) interlayer in their formation

The structure of dislocations in Ge _x Si_{1 − x} (x ∼ 0.4–0.8) films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si(001) substrates tilted by 6° toward the nearest (111) plane has been studied. The epitaxy of GeSi films on substrates deviating from the exact (001) orientation has allowed us to establish the main mechanism of formation of edge misfit dislocations (MDs), which most effectively (for heterostructures of the given composition) relieve stresses caused by the mismatch between lattice parameters of the film and substrate. Despite the edge MDs being defined as immobile (sessile) dislocations, their formation proceeds according to the gliding mechanism proposed by Kvam et al. [J. Mater. Res. 5, 1900 (1990)]. A comparative estimation of the propagation velocities of the primary and induced 60° dislocations, as well as the resulting 90° MDs, has been performed. It has been established that the condition providing for the most effective edge MD formation by the induced nucleation mechanism is the appearance of 60° MDs in a stressed film immediately after it reached a critical thickness. A source of these dislocations can be provided by a preliminarily grown buffer GeSi layer that occurs in a metastable state at the initial stage of plastic relaxation.     

Critical diameters and temperature domains for MBE growth of III–V nanowires on lattice mismatched substrates

We report on the growth properties of InAs, InP and GaAs nanowires (NWs) on different lattice mismatched substrates, in particular, on Si(111), during Au‐assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We show that the critical diameter for the epitaxial growth of dislocation‐free III–V NWs decreases as the lattice mismatch increases and equals 24 nm for InAs NWs on Si(111), 39 nm for InP NWs on Si(111), 44 nm for InAs NWs on GaAs(111)B, and 110 nm for GaAs NWs on Si(111). When the diameters exceed these critical values, the NWs are dislocated or do not grow at all. The corresponding temperature domains for NW growth extend from 320 °C to 340 °C for InAs NWs on Si(111), 330 °C to 360 °C for InP NWs on Si(111), 370 °C to 420 °C for InAs NWs on GaAs(111)B and 380 °C to 540 °C for GaAs NWs on Si(111). Experimental values for critical diameters are compared to the previous findings and are discussed within the frame of a theoretical model. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Interface dislocation structures at the onset of coherency loss in nanoscale Ni–Cu bilayer films

We have performed a transmission electron microscopy study, using weak beam imaging, of the interface dislocation arrays that form initially at the (001) Ni–Cu interface during coherency loss. Interface dislocations were absent in the 2.5?nm Ni/100?nm Cu bilayers, but were present in the 3.0?nm Ni samples, indicating that the critical Ni film thickness for coherency loss is between 2.5 and 3?nm. The key features of the interface dislocation structure at the onset of coherency loss are: (i) the majority of interface dislocations are 60° dislocations, presumably formed by glide of threading dislocations in the coherently stressed Ni layer, and have Burgers vector in the {111} glide plane; (ii) the interface contained approximately 5% Lomer edge dislocations, with Burgers vector in the {001} interface plane, and an occasional Shockley partial dislocation and (iii) isolated segments of interface dislocations terminating at the surface are regularly observed. Possible mechanisms that lead to these dislocation configurations at the interface are discussed. This experimental study shows that near the critical thickness, accumulation of interface dislocations occurs in a somewhat stochastic fashion with favourable regions where coherency is first lost.     

Heteroepitaxy of GexSi1 ? x (x ～ 0.4–0.5) films on Si(001) substrates misoriented to (111): Formation of short edge misfit dislocations alone in the misorientation direction

Relaxation of mechanical misfit stresses in Ge _x Si_{1 − x} (x ∼ 0.4–0.5) epitaxial films grown by molecular epitaxy on Si substrates misoriented from the exact orientation (001) by an angle of 6° has been studied. Possible cases of induced nucleation and interaction of 60° misfit dislocations (MDs) propagating in the misorientation direction with the formation of short edge MD segments are considered. Such configurations are classified and their various forms experimentally detected by TEM are presented. It is shown that short edge MDs are formed by two different mechanisms: (A) correlated or induced nucleation of a complementary 60° dislocation half-loop followed by the formation of an edge dislocation segment; and (B) the formation of a 90° MD segment upon intersection of the already existing complementary 60° MDs gliding in oppositely inclined {111} planes. The nonequivalency of the interaction of 60° MDs propagating in opposite directions along the substrate misorientation is shown.     

Role of edge dislocations in plastic relaxation of GeSi/Si(001) heterostructures: Dependence of introduction mechanisms on film thickness

It has been shown that, in the GeSi/Si(001) heterosystem at lattice parameter mismatches of ～2% and more, a small critical thickness of the introduction of dislocations leads to the implementation of the mechanism of induced nucleation of misfit dislocations. This mechanism consists in that the stress field of an already existing 60° dislocation provokes introduction of a secondary 60° dislocation with an opposite-sign screw component. As a result of the interaction of such dislocation pairs, edge misfit dislocations are formed, which do control the plastic relaxation process. This mechanism is most efficient when dislocations are introduced at the GeSi film thickness only slightly exceeding the critical thickness of the introduction of 60° dislocations, and there are threading dislocations. The dominant type of misfit dislocations (60° or edge) in the Ge-on-Si(001) system can be controlled by varying the mismatch parameter in the heteropair.     

Defect formation in Ge<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Si<Subscript>x</Subscript>/Ge(111) epitaxial heterostructures

Selective chemical etching and transmission electron microscopy are used to study the defect formation in Ge_1?xSi_x/Ge(111) epitaxial heterostructures at 0.01<x<0.35. As the Si content in the solid solution (SS) increases, the dislocation densities in the epitaxial layer, at the interface, and in the near-interface region in the substrate are found to vary nonmonotonically. The difference in the depth distribution of dislocations observed in the heterostructures in three different SS composition ranges is caused by the effect of the SS composition on the kinetics of misfit-stress relaxation, in particular, on the intensity of misfit-dislocation generation and multiplication. It is found that, in the heterostructures grown by hydride epitaxy at 600°C, misfit-dislocation multiplication through a modified Frank-Read mechanism occurs only in the range 0.03<x<0.20. The results obtained are explained in the context of the effect of silicon-rich microprecipitates, which form during the spinodal decomposition of the SS, on dislocation generation and motion in the epitaxial layer. A mechanism is proposed for misfit-dislocation generation by heterogeneous sources in the epitaxial layer; the mechanism is based on the generation of interstitial dislocation loops near microprecipitates.     

On the homogeneous nucleation and propagation of dislocations under shock compression

The dynamic response of crystalline materials subjected to extreme shock compression is not well understood. The interaction between the propagating shock wave and the material’s defect occurs at the sub-nanosecond timescale which makes in situ experimental measurements very challenging. Therefore, computer simulation coupled with theoretical modelling and available experimental data is useful to determine the underlying physics behind shock-induced plasticity. In this work, multiscale dislocation dynamics plasticity (MDDP) calculations are carried out to simulate the mechanical response of copper reported at ultra-high strain rates shock loading. We compare the value of threshold stress for homogeneous nucleation obtained from elastodynamic solution and standard nucleation theory with MDDP predictions for copper single crystals oriented in the [0 0 1]. MDDP homogeneous nucleation simulations are then carried out to investigate several aspects of shock-induced deformation such as; stress profile characteristics, plastic relaxation, dislocation microstructure evolution and temperature rise behind the wave front. The computation results show that the stresses exhibit an elastic overshoot followed by rapid relaxation such that the 1D state of strain is transformed into a 3D state of strain due to plastic flow. We demonstrate that MDDP computations of the dislocation density, peak pressure, dynamics yielding and flow stress are in good agreement with recent experimental findings and compare well with the predictions of several dislocation-based continuum models. MDDP-based models for dislocation density evolution, saturation dislocation density, temperature rise due to plastic work and strain rate hardening are proposed. Additionally, we demonstrated using MDDP computations along with recent experimental reports the breakdown of the fourth power law of Swegle and Grady in the homogeneous nucleation regime.     

Structural state of Ge/Si heterosystems with (001), (111), and (7 7 10) interfaces

It is shown for (111) and (001) interfaces that at an identical degree of strain relaxation in semi-conductor epitaxial films, the ratio of distances D between neighboring dislocations is D ₍₁₁₁₎/D ₍₀₀₁₎ = 1.5. This allows us to establish that dislocation interface (7 7 10) contains partial 90° Shockley dislocations lying in three directions of 〈110〉.     

Ex situ STM imaging with atomic resolution of Ni(111) electrodes passivated in sulfuric acid

Scanning tunneling microscopy has been used to study in air Ni(111) electrodes passivated in 0.05M H₂SO₄ at + 650 mV/SHE. Before passivation, the Ni(111) single crystal surface has steps along the 〈1&#x0304;10〉 directions with terraces having a width of a few hundred nanometers. After passivation, a mosaic structure is formed with crystallites of 2 to 3 nm in size and strip-like features extended mainly along the [12&#x0304;1] direction whose width ranges from 2 to 3 nm and which appear to be locally tilted from 5 to 13°. Atomic resolution imaging has been achieved on both of these features. It reveals a corrugated lattice whose parameters are 0.30 ± 0.02 nm and 117 ± 3° in agreement with those of NiO(111). The crystallites have smooth step edges along [1&#x0304;01] and [011&#x0304;]. The STM imaging of the passive film as well as its mosaic structure are discussed.     

Strong interaction of an Al2Cu intermetallic precipitate with its boundary

NMR, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments have been undertaken to establish the nature of Ω-platelets which form during heat treatment of aluminium alloys containing Cu, Mg (Mg lean) and Ag of the order of 0.1 at. % [1]. The platelets lie on (111) planes of the Al host lattice, separated from the Al on either face by a thin layer, one or two atoms thick, of Mg and Ag atoms. At temperatures between 185°C and 250°C the platelets have been previously shown to coarsen (thicken) slowly with time but more rapidly at 300°C [2,3]. TEM observations are described which confirm that the platelets remain on (111)_α for heat treatments up until at least 5?h at 300°C. The NMR and XRD results indicate that for thick platelets the bulk of the platelet material, sufficiently distant from the two bounding interfaces, is exactly tetragonal Al₂Cu θ-phase, but that platelets of the order of 2–4?nm thick (e.g. 100?h at 185°C) have a structure strongly influenced by interaction with the platelet boundary, which removes the axial symmetry of the Cu atom. Both NMR and XRD observations have shown a gradual transition between these two limits.     

The peierls energy and kink energy in fcc metals

In fcc crystals, dislocations are dissociated on the {111} glide plane into pairs of partial dislocations. Since each partial interacts individually with the Peierls potential and is coupled to its neighbour by a stacking fault, periodic variations in the separation distance d of the partials occur when dislocations running along closed packed lattice directions are displaced. This can drastically reduce the effective Peierls stress. By using the Peierls model the structure of 0°, 30°, 60° and 90° dislocations in a typical fcc metal with the elastic properties of Cu and a stacking-fault energy γ₀ in the interval 0.04?≤?γ₀?≤?0.05?J/m² was studied, and the magnitude of the Peierls energy ΔE _P and the resulting kink energies E _K were determined. Since the energies involved are of the order of 10^?3?eV/b or less, their magnitude cannot be asserted with high confidence, considering the simplifying assumptions in the model. The difference in the changes of the core configuration during displacement of dislocations of different orientations should, however, be of physical significance. It is found that a dissociated 60° dislocation generally has a higher effective Peierls energy than a screw dislocation, but the reverse is true for the kink energy, at least in Cu.     

Role of the dislocation screw component in the formation of the dislocation structure in Ge- and Si-based semiconductor heterosystems

The possibility of solving the problem of propagating dislocations in heterosystems by means of decreasing the number of dislocation families participating in the process of misfit stress relief has been investigated. The system of Γ-shaped misfit dislocations, which is proposed in the literature as the optimal type of plastic relaxation, has been analyzed. Taking into account the effect of the screw dislocation component, this suggestion is valid only for the initial stage of relaxation. The results of simulation of the process of plastic relaxation and experimental investigations of structures containing L-shaped dislocations are presented. Misfit stress relief in heterostructures grown on vicinal substrates has been theoretically and experimentally investigated.     

Effect of dose on irradiation-induced loop density and Burgers vector in ion-irradiated ferritic/martensitic steel HT9

Samples of F/M steel HT9 were irradiated to 20?dpa at 420°C, 440°C and 470°C in a transmission electron microscope with 1?MeV Kr ions so that the microstructure evolution could be followed in situ and characterised as a function of dose. Dynamic observations of irradiation-induced defect formation and evolution were made at the different temperatures. Irradiation-induced loops were characterised in terms of their Burgers vector, size and density as a function of dose and similar observations and trends were found at the three temperatures: (i) both a/2 <111> and a <100> loops are observed; (ii) in the early stage of irradiation, the density of irradiation-induced loops increases with dose (0–4?dpa) and then decreases at higher doses (above 4?dpa), (iii) the dislocation line density shows an inverse trend to the loop density with increasing dose: in the early stages of irradiation, the pre-existing dislocation lines are lost by climb to the surfaces while at higher doses (above 4?dpa), the build-up of new dislocation networks is observed along with the loss of the radiation-induced dislocation loops to dislocation networks; (iv) at higher doses, the decrease of number of loops affects more the a/2 <111> loop population; the possible loss mechanisms of the a/2 <111> loops are discussed. Also, the ratio of a <100> to a/2 <111> loops is found to be similar to cases of bulk irradiation of the same alloy using 5?MeV Fe²⁺ ions to similar doses of 20?dpa at similar temperatures.     

Formation of misfit edge dislocations in Ge x Si1 ? x films ( x ～ 0.4–0.5) grown on tilted Si(001) → (111) substrates

The dislocation structure of Ge _x Si_{1 − x} films (x ∼ 0.4–0.5) grown by molecular epitaxy on Si(001) substrates tilted by 6° about the 〈011〉 axis was studied. It is shown that, in the tilt direction, edge misfit dislocations (MDs) arise only in the form of short segments lying on the intersections of 60° MDs. As a result, the total length of edge MDs along the substrate tilt direction is smaller than that along the tilt axis. The deviation of the substrate surface from the singular plane made it possible to detect a dislocation configuration that consists of a short segment of an edge MD and two diverging 60° MDs propagating from it in the tilt direction. The formation of the segment is assumed to begin with simultaneous nucleation of complementary dislocation half-loops that form a short edge MD on the interface and then propagate on one side as two diverging 60° MD lines. Original Russian Text ? Yu.B. Bolkhovityanov, A.K. Gutakovskii, A.S. Deryabin, L.V. Sokolov, 2008, published in Fizika Tverdogo Tela, 2008, Vol. 50, No. 10, pp. 1783–1787.     

Low-density dislocation arrays at heteroepitaxial Ge/GaAs-interfaces investigated by high voltage electron microscopy

High-voltage electron microscopy in combination with a large-area thinning technique has been applied to thin epitaxial Ge layers on GaAs substrates. These layers exhibit 60° misfit dislocations along the 〈110〉 directions parallel to the interface. Various dislocation reactions are evaluated from the electron micrographs, e.g. the formation of non-glissile 90° dislocations from two nearly parallel 60° dislocations and the annihilation reaction of two crossing 60° dislocations with identical Burgers vectors. The latter reaction occasionally leads to a dislocation multiplication. The misfit dislocations in very thin layers (～0.5 μm thickness and a linear dislocation density of less than 100 dislocation lines/cm) tend to be arranged in groups rather than being equidistant. Consequences for the interpretation of x-ray topograms are discussed.     

Characterization of dislocation interactions in olivine using electron tomography

We have investigated by electron tomography, in a transmission electronic microscope, the interactions between dislocations in olivine single crystals and polycrystals deformed in axial compression at T < 1000 °C (T < 0.5T_m). Dislocations are mostly of the [0?0?1] type, except in the polycrystal where [1?0?0] and [0?0?1] dislocations have been activated. A few 〈1?0?1〉 junctions have been found and characterized. Many collinear interactions have been identified either involving direct interactions between crossing dislocations of opposite Burgers vectors or indirect interactions between dislocations gliding in parallel planes and sessile dislocation loops. We suggest that collinear interaction, already identified as the primary source of strain hardening in FCC metals, is the main dislocation interaction mechanism in olivine deformed at temperatures below 1000 °C.     

Direct observation of elemental segregation in InGaN nanowires by X‐ray nanoprobe

Using synchrotron radiation nanoprobe, this work reports on the elemental distribution in single In_x Ga_1–xN nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy directly on Si(111) substrates. Single NWs dispersed on Al covered sapphire were characterized by nano‐X‐ray fluorescence, Raman scattering and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Both Ga and In maps reveal an inhomogeneous axial distribution inside sin‐ gle NWs. The analysis of NWs from the same sample but with different dimensions suggests a decrease of In segregation with the reduction of NW diameter, while Ga distribution seems to remain unaltered. Photoluminescence and Raman scattering measurements carried out on ensembles of NWs exhibit relevant signatures of the compositional disorder. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Thermal stretching of defective nanowires: the coupled effects of vacancy cluster defects,operating temperature,and wire cross-sectional area

Extensive atomistic simulations of the thermal stretching of defective nanowires (NWs) were performed using the embedded-atom molecular dynamics modeling approach. The nucleation and propagation of dislocations are described via quantitative dislocation-based analyses. The investigation focuses on the coupled effects of various vacancy cluster (VC) defects, operating temperature, and wire cross-sectional area on the mechanical properties and plastic deformations of defective NWs. With increasing internal stress of a stretched wire, a rapidly moving dislocation loop that transferred atoms to fill up the original vacancy cluster before the wire yielded was found (i.e. it carried the vacancies away from the inside of the wire and formed a notch at the wire edge). The heterogeneous nucleation of dislocations from the notch site propagated along the {111}〈112〉 partial dislocations and formed stacking faults or perfect dislocations on the {111} activated planes. Simulation results show a decreasing yield strength with increasing VC size for a given wire sectional area and temperature. Quasi-linear decreasing Young’s moduli were observed with increasing operation temperature. For a given operation temperature, NW Young’s modulus increased with increasing NW size. Two typical deformation regimes under various operation temperatures were found: (i) a high-temperature-induced pre-melting phenomenon and a thermal softening effect caused low-stress plastic flow and rapid pillar-necking deformation, and (ii) step-wise glides, slip bands, and cross-slips proceeded along the activated glide planes in the low-temperature hard-brittle structure. These two regimes were thoroughly characterized via the evolutions of microscopic dislocations and the changes of true stress. For operation at high temperatures, the ultra-thin 1/5-type pentagonal ring chains exhibit a relatively robust structure, which can potentially be used as building blocks and components for high-temperature nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) devices in the future.     

Theoretical stability,thin film synthesis and transport properties of the Mon +1GaCn MAX phase

The phase stability of Mo_{n +1}GaC_n has been investigated using ab‐initio calculations. The results indicate stability for the Mo₂GaC phase only, with a formation enthalpy of –0.4 meV per atom. Subsequent thin film synthesis of Mo₂GaC was performed through magnetron sputtering from elemental targets onto Al₂O₃ [0001], 6H‐SiC [0001] and MgO [111] substrates within the temperature range of 500 °C and 750 °C. High structural quality films were obtained for synthesis on MgO [111] substrates at 590 ºC. Evaluation of transport properties showed a superconducting behavior with a critical temperature of approximately 7 K, reducing upon the application of an external magnetic field. The results point towards the first superconducting MAX phase in thin film form. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)