Linking Nanoscales and Dislocation Shielding to the Ductile-Brittle Transition of Silicon

The ductile-brittle transition of nano/microscale silicon is explored at low-temperature, high stress conditions. A pathway to eventual mechanism maps describing this ductile-brittle transition behavior using sample size, strain rate, and temperature is outlined. First, a discussion of variables controlling the BDT in silicon is given and discussed in the context of development of eventual modeling that could simultaneously incorporate all their effects. For description of energy dissipation by dislocation nucleation from a crack tip, three critical input parameters are identified: the effective stress, activation volume, and activation energy for dislocation motion. These are discussed individually relating to the controlling variables for the BDT. Lastly, possibilities for measuring these parameters experimentally are also described.