Crack tip dislocations revealed by electron tomography in silicon single crystal

Received 10 June 2008; received in revised form 25 June 2008; accepted 25 June 2008.

Crack tip dislocations in silicon single crystals have been observed by a combination of annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy and computed tomography. A series of images was acquired by maintaining the diffraction vector parallel to that of crack propagation to achieve sharp images of the dislocations. The observed dislocations were reconstructed by a filtered back-projection, and exhibited three-dimensional configurations of overlaid dislocations around the crack tip.

Keywords: Electron tomography, Fracture, Dislocations, Transmission electron microscopy, Scanning transmission electron microscopy

a Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan

b JST-CREST, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan

c Department of Engineering Sciences for Electronics and Materials, Kyushu University, 6-1 Kasuga koen, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +81 92 802 2952.

PII: S1359-6462(08)00504-6

doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2008.06.042

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