Nano-scale elastic–plastic properties and indentation-induced deformation of amorphous silicon carbide thin film

Controllable low-temperature (500 °C) deposition of amorphous a-SiC ceramic films on Si(100) was achieved using a pulsed dc-magnetron puttering system in a mixture of CH4/Ar. The nanoscale elastic-plastic response of the film upon contact loading was systematically characterized and analyzed by dept...

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Main Authors: Nawaz, A., Mao, W., Lu, Chunsheng, Shen, Y.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier Science Ltd 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8785
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author Nawaz, A.
Mao, W.
Lu, Chunsheng
Shen, Y.
author_facet Nawaz, A.
Mao, W.
Lu, Chunsheng
Shen, Y.
author_sort Nawaz, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Controllable low-temperature (500 °C) deposition of amorphous a-SiC ceramic films on Si(100) was achieved using a pulsed dc-magnetron puttering system in a mixture of CH4/Ar. The nanoscale elastic-plastic response of the film upon contact loading was systematically characterized and analyzed by depth sensing nanoindentation technique using a Berkovich tip indenter. The mean values for elastic modulus and hardness were found to be 170±10 and 11.0±0.8 GPa, respectively. The onset of elastic-plastic transition occurred with contact loading of 70 µN at a depth of 10 nm. By coupling the Hertzian contact theory and Johnson's cavity model, the critical shear stress (7.7 GPa), yielding strength (14.4 GPa), plastic zone size (30–300 nm), and plastic work ratio (0.18–0.40) of a-SiC thin film under nanoindentation were determined. Based on the experimental results, the resolved shear stress analysis and deformation behavior were found to be consistent with the interpretation that the deformation behavior was associated with local readjustment of small clusters of atoms. The deformation mechanism was also explained on the basis of shear transformation zones (STZs) amorphous plasticity theory.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2017
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-87852017-09-13T15:37:03Z Nano-scale elastic–plastic properties and indentation-induced deformation of amorphous silicon carbide thin film Nawaz, A. Mao, W. Lu, Chunsheng Shen, Y. Controllable low-temperature (500 °C) deposition of amorphous a-SiC ceramic films on Si(100) was achieved using a pulsed dc-magnetron puttering system in a mixture of CH4/Ar. The nanoscale elastic-plastic response of the film upon contact loading was systematically characterized and analyzed by depth sensing nanoindentation technique using a Berkovich tip indenter. The mean values for elastic modulus and hardness were found to be 170±10 and 11.0±0.8 GPa, respectively. The onset of elastic-plastic transition occurred with contact loading of 70 µN at a depth of 10 nm. By coupling the Hertzian contact theory and Johnson's cavity model, the critical shear stress (7.7 GPa), yielding strength (14.4 GPa), plastic zone size (30–300 nm), and plastic work ratio (0.18–0.40) of a-SiC thin film under nanoindentation were determined. Based on the experimental results, the resolved shear stress analysis and deformation behavior were found to be consistent with the interpretation that the deformation behavior was associated with local readjustment of small clusters of atoms. The deformation mechanism was also explained on the basis of shear transformation zones (STZs) amorphous plasticity theory. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8785 10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.09.170 Elsevier Science Ltd restricted
spellingShingle Nawaz, A.
Mao, W.
Lu, Chunsheng
Shen, Y.
Nano-scale elastic–plastic properties and indentation-induced deformation of amorphous silicon carbide thin film
title Nano-scale elastic–plastic properties and indentation-induced deformation of amorphous silicon carbide thin film
title_full Nano-scale elastic–plastic properties and indentation-induced deformation of amorphous silicon carbide thin film
title_fullStr Nano-scale elastic–plastic properties and indentation-induced deformation of amorphous silicon carbide thin film
title_full_unstemmed Nano-scale elastic–plastic properties and indentation-induced deformation of amorphous silicon carbide thin film
title_short Nano-scale elastic–plastic properties and indentation-induced deformation of amorphous silicon carbide thin film
title_sort nano-scale elastic–plastic properties and indentation-induced deformation of amorphous silicon carbide thin film
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8785