Transmission electron microscopy studies and simulation of the indentation response of superelastic fullerenelike carbon nitride thin films

• The highly elastic behavior of fullerenelike carbon nitride thin films on single crystal Si (001) substrates has been studied by nanoindentation. The films exhibit a microstructure of frequently bent and intersecting graphene sheets. Transmission electron microscopy of indented areas revealed no tendency to plastic deformation in the highly elastic and compliant film. Also, a unique deformation pattern in the Si substrate is observed, where a {111} facetted inverted pyramid of untransformed Si remained intact under the indenter with a retained CNx /Si (001) interface. Analytical approaches using the effective indenter method, supported by finite element methods, are employed to understand the nonlinear but fully elastic behavior of the coatings as well as to describe the critical parameters for the deformation and phase transformation of the Si substrate. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.

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TECHNOLOGY

TEKNIKVETENSKAP

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