Low‐Temperature In Situ Large‐Strain Plasticity of Silicon Nanowires

mentally. In this report, we present in situ TEM observation of the elastic-plastic-fracture processes of a single Si NW recorded at atomic resolution. The study directly shows the strain-induced structural evolution process of Si NWs and its largestrain plasticity (LSP). Our results indicate that the LSP of Si NWs via a brittle-ductile transition originates from a dislocation-initiated amorphization. This behavior is in contrast to the mechanical behavior of bulk Si. Our observation reveals a phenomenon and mechanism of the Si NW mechanics and is fundamentally important for Si-NW-based nanotechnology. The in situ Si NW elastic, elastic-plastic, and plastic deformation investigations were carried out by ultrahigh-resolution TEM (UHRTEM) by axially extending the Si NWs by means of a mechanical force created by a TEM specimen-supporting grid under electron beam irradiation, as reported in detail elsewhere [17,18] (also see the Experimental section and Sup

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