Dynamic crack surface instabilities initiated at dopants

The origin of micron-scale ridge-like fracture surface instabilities on the {1 1 1} low-energy cleavage plane of silicon crystal was elucidated by fracture experiments and surface analyses by scanning tunneling microscopy under ultra-high vacuum. These investigations show that when a low-speed crack collides with individual boron atoms along the crack front, atomic-height jogs are generated, gradually growing by pile-up mechanisms to over three orders of magnitude in height by forming ridges. (C) 2013 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.