Elastic-Plastic Transition in MBE-Grown GaSb Semiconducting Crystal Examined by Nanoindentation

Abstract

The present paper concerns the elastic-plastic nanodeformation of Te-doped GaSb crystals grown by molecular beam epitaxy on the n-type of GaSb substrate. The conventional analysis of nanoindentation data obtained with sharp triangular (Berkovich) and spherical tip revealed the elastic modulus (E = 83.07 ± 1.78 GPa), hardness (H = 5.19 ± 0.25 GPa) and "true hardness" (HT = 5.73 ± 0.04 GPa). The registered pop-in event which indicates the elastic-plastic transition in GaSb crystal points towards the corresponding yield strength (σY = 3.8 ± 0.1 GPa). The origin of incipient plasticity in GaSb crystal is discussed in terms of elastic-plastic deformation energy concept.