7 mN on Si(100) surface and 2.0 mN on the other two crystal planes (indicated by arrows). Based on the Hertzian contact model [15], the corresponding Entospletinib datasheet maximum contact pressure (P 0) was estimated as 10.9 GPa for Si(100), 13.4 GPa for Si(110), and 14.2 GPa for Si(111), respectively. Since the hardness of Si(100), Si(110), and Si(111) was measured as 11.3, 13.0, and 13.2 GPa with the triboindenter, the calculated critical pressure is very close to the hardness of monocrystalline

silicon with different crystal planes [8, 16]. With the increase in F n, although R406 mouse the value of P 0 attains to that of the hardness, the average pressure on the contact area may be still lower than that on the hardness. Hence, the scratch with both hillock and groove will be produced, and the hillock will become larger as the load increased. With the further increase in the load, groove formation will be dominant, and hillock will disappear because of the severe plastic

deformation. Therefore, when the contact pressure is less than the hardness of the monocrystalline silicon, the friction-induced hillock can be created on silicon surfaces with various crystal planes. Figure 1 Evolution of the scratches on (a) Si(100), (b) Si(110), and (c) Si(111) surfaces. Selleckchem P5091 The scratches were produced at a linearly increasing load from 0.3 to 6.0 mN. Each AFM image (2 × 2 μm2) was taken from the appointed segment of the same scratch on silicon with a given crystal plane. The arrows on the cross-sectional profiles indicate the appearance of the groove. Comparison of hillock formation under the constant load Although the friction-induced fabrication can be realized on silicon surfaces with various crystal planes, the friction-induced Selleckchem Nutlin3 hillocks on various silicon crystal planes are a little different, as shown in

Figure 1. To accurately compare the hillock formation on various silicon surfaces, the scratch tests were performed on three silicon crystal planes under the same constant load by AFM both in air and in vacuum. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the hillocks were created on three silicon crystal planes under a constant load of 50 μN, where the contact pressure was estimated as 8.5 to 10.5 GPa. Figure 2 shows the hillocks produced in air with N of 100 and 200, respectively. Under the same loading condition, the hillock formation was also investigated in vacuum, as shown in Figure 3. Figure 2 AFM images of the friction-induced hillocks on Si(100), Si(110), and Si(111) surfaces produced in air. The F n is 50 μN, and the N is 100 and 200. Figure 3 AFM images of the friction-induced hillocks on Si(100), Si(110), and Si(111) surfaces produced in vacuum. The F n is 50 μN, and the N is 100 and 200. To quantitatively compare the hillock size on various silicon crystal planes, the height and volume of the hillocks were measured with the original silicon surface as the base level.