Papers by Author: Karsten Durst

Abstract: The origin of dislocation evolution during SiC crystal growth is usually related to lattice relaxation mechanisms caused by thermal stress. In this paper we discuss dislocation generation and dislocation propagation related to doping and suppression of basal plane dislocations, the latter being of particular interest for bipolar electronic devices. We have prepared alternating p-/n-/pdoped SiC crystals using the donor nitrogen and the acceptors aluminum or boron. In addition we determined the mechanical properties of n-type and p-type SiC; in particular we measured the critical shear stress by nano-indentation on c-plane and a-plane 6H-SiC surfaces. A considerably lower basal plane dislocation density is found in aluminum as well as in boron doped p-type SiC compared to nitrogen doped n-type SiC. It is concluded that the explanation of the reduced basal plane dislocation density in p-type SiC needs the consideration of electronic as well as mechanical effects.

Abstract: The mechanical properties of ultrafine-grained metals processed by equal channel angular pressing is investigated by nanoindentations in comparison with measurements on nanocrystalline nickel with a grain size between 20 and 400 nm produced by pulsed electrodeposition. Besides hardness and Young’s modulus measurements, the nanoindentation method allows also controlled experiments on the strain rate sensitivity, which are discussed in detail in this paper. Nanoindentation measurements can be performed at indentation strain rates between 10-3 s-1 and 0.1 s-1. Nanocrystalline and ultrafine-grained fcc metals as Al and Ni show a significant strain rate sensitivity at room temperature in comparison with conventional grain sized materials. In ultrafine-grained bcc Fe the strain rate sensitivity does not change significantly after severe plastic deformation. Inelastic effects are found during repeated unloading-loading experiments in nanoindentations.