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An in situ electrical measurement technique via a conducting diamond tip for nanoindentation in silicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

S. Ruffell ,
J.E. Bradby ,
J.S. Williams  and
O.L. Warren
S. Ruffell*
Affiliation:
Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
J.E. Bradby
Affiliation:
Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
J.S. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
O.L. Warren
Affiliation:
Hysitron Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55344
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

An in situ electrical measurement technique for the investigation of nanoindentation using a Hysitron Triboindenter is described, together with details of experiments to address some technical issues associated with the technique. Pressure-induced phase transformations in silicon during indentation are of particular interest but are not fully understood. The current in situ electrical characterization method makes use of differences in electrical properties of the phase-transformed silicon to better understand the sequence of transformations that occur during loading and unloading. Here, electric current is measured through the sample/indenter tip during indentation, with a fixed or variable voltage applied to the sample. This method allows both current monitoring during indentation and the extraction of current-voltage (I-V) characteristics at various stages of loading. The work presented here focuses on experimental issues that must be understood for a full interpretation of results from nanoindentation experiments in silicon. The tip/sample contact and subsurface electrical resistivity changes dominate the resultant current measurement. Extracting the component of contact resistance provides an extremely sensitive method for measuring the electrical properties of the material immediately below the indenter tip, with initial results from indentation in silicon showing that this is a very sensitive probe of subsurface structural and electrical changes.

Keywords

Electrical propertiesPhase transformationSi
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , March 2007 , pp. 578 - 586
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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