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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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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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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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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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.49
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