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Indentation-induced delamination of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition silicon nitride film on gallium arsenide substrate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2013

Mingyuan Lu ,
Hongtao Xie ,
Han Huang ,
Jin Zou  and
Yuehui He
Mingyuan Lu
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia
Hongtao Xie
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia
Han Huang*
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia
Jin Zou
Affiliation:
Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia; and State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083, Hunan, China
Yuehui He
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083, Hunan, China
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: han.huang@uq.edu.au
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Abstract

Nanoindentation was performed on amorphous silicon nitride films of different thicknesses deposited on gallium arsenide (GaAs) (001) substrates using a conical indenter. Both “pop-in” and ‘pop-out’ were observed from the load-displacement curves when the indentation load exceeded a critical value. Pop-in occurring during loading is associated with plane-slip in the GaAs substrate, and pop-out during unloading is attributed to the interfacial delamination between the film and the substrate. Finite element modeling (FEM) was used to analyze the stress evolution during unloading. The FEM results showed that the stress at the interface evolved from compressive to tensile status during the withdrawal of indentation load, and the interfacial debonding was induced at a critical tensile stress, which is consistent with the pop-out observed. A deformation model for interpreting the pop-in and pop-out events is thereby proposed.

Keywords

Nanoindentationpop-inpop-outdelaminationsilicon nitride film
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 8 , 28 April 2013 , pp. 1047 - 1055
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013

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References

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