Nanoscale deformation analysis of a crack-tip in silicon by geometric phase analysis and numerical moiré method

A micro-crack in a single-crystal silicon was investigated using a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. In particular, geometric phase analysis and numerical moiré method were employed to analyze the deformation fields of this crack-tip. The strain field maps of the crack-tip indeed show that the deformation can only occur at the crack-tip area. The maxima of the strain components, namely, εxx, εyy, and εxy at the crack-tip area can reach 1.47%, 2.91%, and 2.47%, respectively. Linear strain–distance curves were obtained at a 10 nm scale from the crack-tip.