Elimination of strength degrading effects caused by surface microdefect: A prevention achieved by silicon nanotexturing to avoid catastrophic brittle fracture.

ABSTRACT: The unavoidable occurrence of microdefects in silicon wafers increase the probability of catastrophic fracture of silicon-based devices, thus highlighting the need for a strengthening mechanism to minimize fractures resulting from defects. In this study, a novel mechanism for manufacturing silicon wafers was engineered based on nanoscale reinforcement through surface nanotexturing. Because of nanotexturing, different defect depths synthetically emulated as V-notches, demonstrated a bending strength enhancement by factors of 2.5, 3.2, and 6 for 2-, 7-, and 14-μm-deep V-notches, respectively. A very large increase in the number of fragments observed during silicon fracturing was also indicative of the strengthening effect. Nanotextures surrounding the V-notch reduced the stress concentration

SUBMITTER: Kashyap K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4455193 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature