Atomic-Scale-Deformation-Dynamics (ASDS) of Nanowires and Nanofilms

Nanowires and nanofilms are fundamental building blocks of micro and nano-electronics for both of bottom-up and top-down technologies. Monitoring and recording the mechanical property dynamics at atomic scale are important to understand the atomic mechanism of new and surprising nano-phenomena and design new applications. Through years’ endeavors, we developed tensile and/or bending in-situ atomic-lattice resolution electron microscopy methods and equipments for nanowires and successfully conducted atomic-lattice resolution mechanical tests on individual nano-objects. With this, we observed the brittle materials SiC and Si nanowires (NWs) become highly ductile at room temperature. The crystalline structural evolution processes corresponding to the occurrence of unusual large strain plasticity includes the dislocation initiation, dislocation accumulation and amorphorization as well as the necking of the one dimensional nanowires were fully recorded at atomic scale and in real time. We also expand the experimental methods and equipments to two-dimensional nanofilms. An example of tensile experiment on nano-crystalline Au films is presented. The deformation mechanisms of nano-crystalline gold films were observed at the atomic scale and real-time. At the mean time, an atomic scale the crack blunting behavior was captured and the plastic deformation mechanism of the single nano-crystalline was revealed.