Nano Express
Nanoscale anisotropic plastic deformation in single crystal GaN
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* Corresponding author: Ke Xu kxu2006@sinano.ac.cn
Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ruoshui Road 398, Suzhou, 215123, People's Republic of China
Nanoscale Research Letters 2012, 7:150 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-7-150
Published: 22 February 2012Abstract
Elasto-plastic mechanical deformation behaviors of c-plane (0001) and nonpolar GaN single crystals are studied using nanoindentation, cathodoluminescence, and transmission electron microscopy. Nanoindentation tests show that c-plane GaN is less susceptible to plastic deformation and has higher hardness and Young's modulus than the nonpolar GaN. Cathodoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy characterizations of indent-induced plastic deformation reveal that there are two primary slip systems for the c-plane GaN, while there is only one most favorable slip system for the nonplane GaN. We suggest that the anisotropic elasto-plastic mechanical properties of GaN are relative to its anisotropic plastic deformation behavior.
PACS: 62.20.fq; 81.05.Ea; 61.72.Lk.
