Helium Ion Microscope Fabrication Causing Changes in the Structure and Mechanical Behavior of Silicon Micropillars

Yue-Cun Wang; Lin Tian; Fan Liu; Yuan-Bin Qin; Gong Zheng; Jing-Tao Wang; Evan Ma; Zhi-Wei Shan

doi:10.1002/smll.201601753

Helium Ion Microscope Fabrication Causing Changes in the Structure and Mechanical Behavior of Silicon Micropillars

Small. 2017 Jan;13(1). doi: 10.1002/smll.201601753. Epub 2016 Oct 6.

Authors

Yue-Cun Wang¹, Lin Tian¹, Fan Liu², Yuan-Bin Qin¹, Gong Zheng³, Jing-Tao Wang², Evan Ma^{1

4}, Zhi-Wei Shan¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Advancing Materials Performance from the Nanoscale, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, P. R. China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, P. R. China.
³ Engineering Research Center of Materials Behavior and Design, Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, P. R. China.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA.

PMID: 27709779
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201601753

Abstract

Silicon is used as a prominent case to demonstrate the dramatic effects of helium ion microscope nanofabrication. Structurally, a submicrometer Si pillar can turn completely amorphous at He⁺ doses typically used for micromachining, forming nanobubbles at higher doses. In terms of mechanical properties, the flow stress decreases markedly with increasing dosage, and the softened amorphous Si exhibits spread-out plastic flow.

Keywords: helium ion microscopes; helium ions dosage; mechanical behaviors; silicon micropillars.