TY - JOUR
T1 - The indentation hardness of silicon measured by instrumented indentation
T2 - What does it mean?
AU - Haberl, B.
AU - Aji, L. B.B.
AU - Williams, J. S.
AU - Bradby, J. E.
PY - 2012/12/28
Y1 - 2012/12/28
N2 - The indentation hardness of three different pure forms of silicon was investigated by two different methods. The hardness was probed by direct imaging of the residual impressions and by instrumented indentation using the Oliver-Pharr method. The forms of silicon used were a defective form of amorphous silicon, an amorphous form close to a continuous random network, and a crystalline silicon. The first form deforms via plastic flow and the latter two via phase transition. Two different unloading rates, fast and slow, were used to vary the phase transition behavior. This influenced the relative hardness as measured by instrumented indentation, which is not a reliable method to quantify hardness values in phase transforming materials. Thus, for our phase transforming silicon system, the relative hardness between samples can only be determined correctly by direct imaging, provided that the image accurately reveals the extent of the phase transformed volume.
AB - The indentation hardness of three different pure forms of silicon was investigated by two different methods. The hardness was probed by direct imaging of the residual impressions and by instrumented indentation using the Oliver-Pharr method. The forms of silicon used were a defective form of amorphous silicon, an amorphous form close to a continuous random network, and a crystalline silicon. The first form deforms via plastic flow and the latter two via phase transition. Two different unloading rates, fast and slow, were used to vary the phase transition behavior. This influenced the relative hardness as measured by instrumented indentation, which is not a reliable method to quantify hardness values in phase transforming materials. Thus, for our phase transforming silicon system, the relative hardness between samples can only be determined correctly by direct imaging, provided that the image accurately reveals the extent of the phase transformed volume.
KW - Si
KW - hardness
KW - phase transformation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871395561&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1557/jmr.2012.389
DO - 10.1557/jmr.2012.389
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84871395561
SN - 0884-2914
VL - 27
SP - 3066
EP - 3072
JO - Journal of Materials Research
JF - Journal of Materials Research
IS - 24
ER -