title: Measurement of the bending strength of vapor-liquid-solid grown silicon nanowires.
abstract: The fracture strength of silicon nanowires grown on a [111] silicon substrate by the vapor-liquid-solid process was measured. The nanowires, with diameters between 100 and 200 nm and a typical length of 2 microm, were subjected to bending tests using an atomic force microscopy setup inside a scanning electron microscope. The average strength calculated from the maximum nanowire deflection before fracture was around 12 GPa, which is 6% of the Young's modulus of silicon along the nanowire direction. This value is close to the theoretical fracture strength, which indicates that surface or volume defects, if present, play only a minor role in fracture initiation.
authors.affiliation: EMPA Materials Science and Technology, Feuerwerkerstrasse 39, 3602 Thun, Switzerland. samuel.hoffmann@empa.ch
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Utke
authors.forename: Benedikt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.forename: Johann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Michler
authors.forename: Silke H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Christiansen
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Senz
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gösele
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ballif
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D004548:Elasticity; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods*; D019563:Mechanics; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D011485:Protein Binding; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D012825:Silicon