A general metrology of stress on crystalline silicon with random crystal plane by using micro-Raman spectroscopy

The requirement of stress analysis and measurement is increasing with the great development of heterogeneous structures and strain engineering in the field of semiconductors.Micro-Raman spectroscopy is an effective method for the measurement of intrinsic stress in semiconductor structures.However,most existing applications of Raman-stress measurement use the classical model established on the (001) crystal plane.A non-negligible error may be introduced when the Raman data are detected on surfaces/cross-sections of different crystal planes.Owing to crystal symmetry,the mechanical,physical and optical parameters of different crystal planes show obvious anisotropy,leading to the Raman-mechanical relationship dissimilarity on the different crystal planes.In this work,a general model of stress measurement on crystalline silicon with an arbitrary crystal plane was presented based on the elastic mechanics,the lattice dynamics and the Raman selection rule.The wavenumberstress factor that is determined by the proposed method is suitable for the measured crystal plane.Detailed examples for some specific crystal planes were provided and the theoretical results were verified by experiments.

EFFECT OF SURFACE ENERGY ON DISLOCATION-INDUCED FIELD IN HALF-SPACE WITH APPLICATION TO THIN FILM-SUBSTRATE SYSTEMS

In this work the elastic field of an edge dislocation in a half-space with the effect of surface energy has been obtained. The elastic field is then used to study the image force on the dislocation, the critical thickness for dislocation generation in epitaxial thin films with strain mismatch and the yielding strength of thin films on substrates. The results show that the image forces on the dislocation deviate from the conventional solutions when the distance of the dislocation from the free surface is smaller than several times of the characteristic length. Also due to the effect of surface energy, the critical thickness for dislocation generation is smaller than that predicted by the conventional elastic solutions and the extent of the deviation depends on the magnitude of mismatch strain. In contrast, the effect of surface energy on the yielding strength for many practical thin films can be neglected except for some soft ones where the characteristic length is comparable to the thickness.

Investigation on the Velocity-Dependent Adhesion Hysteresis via Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Adhesion plays an important role in miniaturized devices and technologies,which depends not only on indentation depth but also on the history of contact making and breaking,giving rise to adhesion hysteresis.In the present work,adhesion hysteresis has been investigated via molecular dynamics simulations on approaching and retracting a rigid tip to and from a substrate.The results show that hysteresis in the force-displacement curve that depends on approaching and retraction velocities arises under both elastic and plastic deformation.The underlying mechanisms have been analyzed.The implications of the results in friction have been discussed briefly.

A Dislocation-based Model for the Dynamics of Sliding Precursors

The onset of dynamic friction plays an important role in the study of sliding interfaces.Previously,the sliding precursors in the form of crack-like defects have been detected in experiments and their strain fields have been measured to be comparable to those of moving cracks.In the present work,we considered the dynamics of sliding precursors by solving the elastic problem due to a moving dislocation in a half-plane and the transient emission of a dislocation at the edge.It has been found that both the strain field of a moving dislocation and the spatiotemporal evolution agree well with those of a sliding precursor detected in experiments.The results may cast new light to the dynamics of sliding onset.