Orientation Dependent Mechanical Responses and Plastic Deformation Mechanisms of ZnSe Nano Films under Nanoindentation

Abstract

Although ZnSe has been widely studied due to its attractive electronic and optoelectronic properties, limited data on its plastic deformations are available. Through molecular dynamics simulations, we have investigated the indentations on the (001), (110), and (111) planes of ZnSe nano films. Our results indicate that the elastic modulus, incipient plasticity, elastic recovery ratio, and the structural evolutions during the indenting process of ZnSe nano films show obvious anisotropy. To analyze the correlation of structural evolution and mechanical responses, the atomic displacement vectors, atomic arrangements, and the dislocations of the indented samples are analyzed. Our simulations revealed that the plastic deformations of the indented ZnSe nano films are dominated by the nucleation and propagation of 1/2<110> type dislocations, and the symmetrically distributed prismatic loops emitted during the indenting process are closely related with the mechanical properties. By studying the evolutions of microstructures, the formation process of the dislocations, as well as the formation mechanisms of the emitted prismatic loops under the indented crystalline planes are discussed. The results presented in this work not only provide an answer for the questions about indentation responses of ZnSe nano films, but also offer insight into its plastic deformation mechanisms.

Preparation of Novel Heterodimensional Structured Chalcogenide Semiconductor Nano‐Film by Pulsed Laser Deposition Technology

“…Chalcogenide based nano-film such as Zinc selenide (ZnSe) has attracted a lot of attention as a new type of semiconductor material in many fields, [1][2][3] which has become one of the most popular materials in the semiconductor industry due to its large reserves, low cost, good stability, high light transmittance and so on. [4][5][6][7][8] However, it still has some problems due to structural characteristics and properties, such as environmental pollution, difficult preparation, low material strength, single semiconductor type, poor electrical properties, and limited spectral range. These problems can be solved by improving the method of preparing DOI: 10.1002/adom.202300311 nano-thin film.…”