American Journal of Nanosciences

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Nanoindentation Induced Elastic-plastic Deformation of GaN Nanomembrane on a Sapphire Substrate

Received: 04 January 2021    Accepted: 19 January 2021    Published: 28 January 2021
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Abstract

One of the main challenges of the production of a blue laser is the preparation of defect-free GaN layers. It is of high tehnological interest to characterize GaN nanomembrane mechanically for further advanced applications. The current study addresses the impact of applied stresses on GaN nanomembranes, which are placed on sapphire the substrates, using nanoindentation as a nondestructive test. The mechanical response of the 20, and 100 nm thin GaN nanomembrane were studied at different normal applied loads ranging from 1 mN down to 0.1 mN using the Berkovich nanoindentation technique. There were plastic deformation regions at the nanoindented GaN nanomembranes monitored by the load-displacement (p-h) curves. The depth of the deformed regions increased with increasing the applied loads on the diamond indenter. Beside the in-situ depth estimation of the residual nanoindentation using the instrumented nanoindentation machine, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has been deployed as an ex-situ measurements of indentations depth. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) provided us with surface images of the indented membranes. Indentation of the 100 nm thick GaN nanomembrane, where the effect of the substrate is reduced, showed discontinuity in the p-h curves. These discontinuity or pop-in events were attributed to a possible sudden initiation and propagation of threading dislocations in the GaN nanomembrane which was free of threading dislocation upon fabrication. It was suggested to employ μ-Raman spectroscopy methods to investigate the possible structural phase transformation of thicker GaN nanomembranes and to measure the compressive or tensile stresses within the center of the indented zones. Where the observed sudden load-displacements discontinuity or depth excursions during indentation of GaN nanomembranes can be attributed.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajn.20210701.13
Published in American Journal of Nanosciences (Volume 7, Issue 1, March 2021)
Page(s) 15-22
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Nanoindentation, GaN, Nanomembrane, Sapphire, AFM

References
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Author Information
  • Nanotechnology and Semiconductors Center, Materials Science Research Institute, King Abdullaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  • Department of Physics and Mechanics of Materials, Institute P', University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France

  • Computer, Electrical & Mathematical Sciences & Engineering Division, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

  • Computer, Electrical & Mathematical Sciences & Engineering Division, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

  • Computer, Electrical & Mathematical Sciences & Engineering Division, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

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  • APA Style

    Maha Khayyat, Eric Bourhis, Rami Elafandy, Tienkhee Ng, Boon Ooi. (2021). Nanoindentation Induced Elastic-plastic Deformation of GaN Nanomembrane on a Sapphire Substrate. American Journal of Nanosciences, 7(1), 15-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajn.20210701.13

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    ACS Style

    Maha Khayyat; Eric Bourhis; Rami Elafandy; Tienkhee Ng; Boon Ooi. Nanoindentation Induced Elastic-plastic Deformation of GaN Nanomembrane on a Sapphire Substrate. Am. J. Nanosci. 2021, 7(1), 15-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajn.20210701.13

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    AMA Style

    Maha Khayyat, Eric Bourhis, Rami Elafandy, Tienkhee Ng, Boon Ooi. Nanoindentation Induced Elastic-plastic Deformation of GaN Nanomembrane on a Sapphire Substrate. Am J Nanosci. 2021;7(1):15-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajn.20210701.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajn.20210701.13,
      author = {Maha Khayyat and Eric Bourhis and Rami Elafandy and Tienkhee Ng and Boon Ooi},
      title = {Nanoindentation Induced Elastic-plastic Deformation of GaN Nanomembrane on a Sapphire Substrate},
      journal = {American Journal of Nanosciences},
      volume = {7},
      number = {1},
      pages = {15-22},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajn.20210701.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajn.20210701.13},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajn.20210701.13},
      abstract = {One of the main challenges of the production of a blue laser is the preparation of defect-free GaN layers. It is of high tehnological interest to characterize GaN nanomembrane mechanically for further advanced applications. The current study addresses the impact of applied stresses on GaN nanomembranes, which are placed on sapphire the substrates, using nanoindentation as a nondestructive test. The mechanical response of the 20, and 100 nm thin GaN nanomembrane were studied at different normal applied loads ranging from 1 mN down to 0.1 mN using the Berkovich nanoindentation technique. There were plastic deformation regions at the nanoindented GaN nanomembranes monitored by the load-displacement (p-h) curves. The depth of the deformed regions increased with increasing the applied loads on the diamond indenter. Beside the in-situ depth estimation of the residual nanoindentation using the instrumented nanoindentation machine, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has been deployed as an ex-situ measurements of indentations depth. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) provided us with surface images of the indented membranes. Indentation of the 100 nm thick GaN nanomembrane, where the effect of the substrate is reduced, showed discontinuity in the p-h curves. These discontinuity or pop-in events were attributed to a possible sudden initiation and propagation of threading dislocations in the GaN nanomembrane which was free of threading dislocation upon fabrication. It was suggested to employ μ-Raman spectroscopy methods to investigate the possible structural phase transformation of thicker GaN nanomembranes and to measure the compressive or tensile stresses within the center of the indented zones. Where the observed sudden load-displacements discontinuity or depth excursions during indentation of GaN nanomembranes can be attributed.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Nanoindentation Induced Elastic-plastic Deformation of GaN Nanomembrane on a Sapphire Substrate
    AU  - Maha Khayyat
    AU  - Eric Bourhis
    AU  - Rami Elafandy
    AU  - Tienkhee Ng
    AU  - Boon Ooi
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajn.20210701.13
    T2  - American Journal of Nanosciences
    JF  - American Journal of Nanosciences
    JO  - American Journal of Nanosciences
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    EP  - 22
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-4858
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajn.20210701.13
    AB  - One of the main challenges of the production of a blue laser is the preparation of defect-free GaN layers. It is of high tehnological interest to characterize GaN nanomembrane mechanically for further advanced applications. The current study addresses the impact of applied stresses on GaN nanomembranes, which are placed on sapphire the substrates, using nanoindentation as a nondestructive test. The mechanical response of the 20, and 100 nm thin GaN nanomembrane were studied at different normal applied loads ranging from 1 mN down to 0.1 mN using the Berkovich nanoindentation technique. There were plastic deformation regions at the nanoindented GaN nanomembranes monitored by the load-displacement (p-h) curves. The depth of the deformed regions increased with increasing the applied loads on the diamond indenter. Beside the in-situ depth estimation of the residual nanoindentation using the instrumented nanoindentation machine, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has been deployed as an ex-situ measurements of indentations depth. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) provided us with surface images of the indented membranes. Indentation of the 100 nm thick GaN nanomembrane, where the effect of the substrate is reduced, showed discontinuity in the p-h curves. These discontinuity or pop-in events were attributed to a possible sudden initiation and propagation of threading dislocations in the GaN nanomembrane which was free of threading dislocation upon fabrication. It was suggested to employ μ-Raman spectroscopy methods to investigate the possible structural phase transformation of thicker GaN nanomembranes and to measure the compressive or tensile stresses within the center of the indented zones. Where the observed sudden load-displacements discontinuity or depth excursions during indentation of GaN nanomembranes can be attributed.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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