Room-Temperature Plasticity of a Nanosized GaN Crystal.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34313133.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c00773 and PMC identifier 8397389.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
GaN wurtzite crystal is commonly regarded as eminently brittle. However, our research demonstrates that nanodeconfined GaN compressed along the M direction begins to exhibit room-temperature plasticity, yielding a dislocation-free structure despite the occurrence of considerable, irreversible deformation. Our interest in M-oriented, strained GaN nanoobjects was sparked by the results of first-principles bandgap calculations, whereas subsequent nanomechanical tests and ultrahigh-voltage (1250 kV) transmission electron microscopy observations confirmed the authenticity of the phenomenon. Moreover, identical experiments along the C direction produced only a quasi-brittle response. Precisely how this happens is demonstrated by molecular dynamics simulations of the deformation of the C- and M-oriented GaN frustum, which mirror our nanopillar crystals.