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An electric current spike linked to nanoscale plasticity

Nature Nanotechnology volume 4, pages 287–291 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The increase in semiconductor conductivity that occurs when a hard indenter is pressed into its surface has been recognized for years1,2,3,4,5, and nanoindentation experiments have provided numerous insights into the mechanical properties of materials. In particular, such experiments have revealed so called pop-in events, where the indenter suddenly enters deeper into the material without any additional force being applied; these mark the onset of the elastic–plastic transition6,7,8,9,10,11. Here, we report the observation of a current spike—a sharp increase in electrical current followed by immediate decay to zero at the end of the elastic deformation—during the nanoscale deformation of gallium arsenide. Such a spike has not been seen in previous nanoindentation experiments on semiconductors1,2,3,4,5, and our results, supported by ab initio calculations, suggest a common origin for the electrical and mechanical responses of nanodeformed gallium arsenide. This leads us to the conclusion that a phase transition is the fundamental cause of nanoscale plasticity in gallium arsenide12, and the discovery calls for a revision of the current dislocation-based understanding of nanoscale plasticity6,7,8,9,10,11.

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Figure 1: Nano-electrical contact resistance measurements during nanoindentation.
Figure 2: The simultaneous electrical and mechanical responses of nanodeformed GaAs.
Figure 3: Non-dislocation origin of the pop-in event and current spike recorded for GaAs.
Figure 4: Ab initio calculations of the nanodeformed (100)GaAs crystals.
Figure 5: Schematic of the electrical (current spike) and mechanical (pop-in) events displayed by nanodeformed GaAs.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Academy of Finland under FINNANO research project NANOTOMO and NAKAMA-EXT., Research Foundation of Helsinki University of Technology, while the nanoECR measurements were carried out courtesy of Hysitron, Inc. at their laboratories. R.N. acknowledges W.W. Gerberich, I. Szlufarska and C.A. Schuh for their careful reading of the initial version of the manuscript and for providing stimulating comments, as well as special thanks to F. Yoshida and R. Tenne for invaluable discussions.

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Author notes

  1. Roman Nowak, Dariusz Chrobak and Shijo Nagao: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nordic Hysitron Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, Vuorimiehentie 2A, FI-02015 TKK, Espoo, Finland

    Roman Nowak, Dariusz Chrobak & Shijo Nagao

  2. Mechanical System Engineering, Hiroshima University, 1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8511, Japan

    Roman Nowak

  3. Institute of Materials Science, University of Silesia, Bankowa 12, Katowice, 40-007, Poland

    Dariusz Chrobak

  4. Hysitron, Inc., 10025 Valley View Road, Minneapolis, 55344, Minnesota, USA

    David Vodnick & Michael Berg

  5. Optoelectronics Research Centre, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, 33101, Finland

    Antti Tukiainen & Markus Pessa

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Contributions

R.N. conceived the concepts and designed the research project. D.C. and S.N. carried out the calculations and analysed the compatibility of theoretical and experimental data. D.V. and M.B. carried out the experiments and analysed the output. A.T. and M.P. designed and fabricated GaAs specimens. R.N., M.B. and D.C. wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results.

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Correspondence to Roman Nowak.

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Nowak, R., Chrobak, D., Nagao, S. et al. An electric current spike linked to nanoscale plasticity. Nature Nanotech 4, 287–291 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.49

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