In situ spectroscopic study of the plastic deformation of amorphous silicon under non-hydrostatic stress conditions induced b...

Indentation-induced plastic deformation of amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin films was studied by in situ Raman imaging of the deformed contact region of an indented sample, employing a Raman spectroscopy-enhanced instrumented indentation technique (IIT). The occurrence and evolving spatial distribution of changes in the a-Si structure caused by processes, such as polyamorphization and crystallization, induced by indentation loading were observed. The obtained experimental results are linked with previously published work on the plastic deformation of a-Si under hydrostatic compression and shear deformation to establish a model for the deformation behavior of a-Si under indentation loading.