Distribution of residual strain around nanoindentations in silicon

• Anisotropic strain features are adjacent to nanoindentations.
• Strain resolutions are 2.2×10−4 and 2.5×10−4 for two Si crystal planes.
• Strain distribution is determined by dislocation slip and the Schmid factor.
• Indentation deformation is accompanied by a specific dislocation slip.

Residual strain around pyramidal nanoindentations on single-crystal silicon is mapped by electronic backscatter diffraction system and CrossCourt software. Both of the (001) and (111) planes present anisotropic strain features adjacent to indentations in specific crystallographic orientations with strain resolutions of 2.2×10−4 and 2.5×10−4 for Si (001) and (111) surfaces, respectively. The anisotropic distribution of strain is due to the occurrence of dislocation slip in the silicon microstructure, which is determined by the number and type of slip systems and corresponding Schmid factor. The nanoindentation plastic deformation of single-crystal silicon is a process accompanied by dislocation slip on specific planes in specific directions.