Mechanical and fracture behaviors of defective silicon nanowires: combined effects of vacancy clusters, temperature, wire size, and shape

Abstract The coupled effects of vacancy clusters (VCs), temperature, wire size, and geometry on the mechanical and fracture behaviors of defective silicon nanowires (Si NWs) were investigated using molecular dynamics modeling with Tersoff potential. The formation energies (E v ) of a monovacancy (3.933 eV) and a tetrahedron vacancy (10.189 eV) obtained in this study agree well with experimental results and ab initio calculation. Simulation results show that the slip deformations of defective Si NWs are triggered at the wire’s surface and edge due to the number of dangling bonds on the wire’s surface being much greater than that inside a vacancy defect. VC defects barely affect to the value of Young’s modulus, but substantially weaken the ultimate strength of wires with a small cross-sectional size. With decreasing wire size and increasing operation temperature, significant reductions in Young’s modulus and fracture strength were observed. The average Young’s modulus for square NWs was about 3.7 % higher than that of wires with a circular shape due to the surface facet effect. A brittle-to-ductile transition (BDT) occurred for [001]-oriented Si NWs with a lateral size≤5.43 nm and an operation temperature T≥300 K.