Shape effects on the yield stress and deformation of silicon nanowires: A molecular dynamics simulation

ZY Yang and ZX Lu and YP Zhao, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, 106, 023537 (2009).

DOI: 10.1063/1.3186619

The tension and compression of single-crystalline silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with different cross-sectional shapes are studied systematically using molecular dynamics simulation. The shape effects on the yield stresses are characterized. For the same surface to volume ratio, the circular cross-sectional SiNWs are stronger than the square cross- sectional ones under tensile loading, but reverse happens in compressive loading. With the atoms colored by least-squares atomic local shear strain, the deformation processes reveal that the failure modes of incipient yielding are dependent on the loading directions. The SiNWs under tensile loading slip in 111 surfaces, while the compressive loading leads the SiNWs to slip in the 110 surfaces. The present results are expected to contribute to the design of the silicon devices in nanosystems. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. DOI:10.1063/1.3186619

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