Mechanical properties of ZnO epitaxial layers grown on a- and c-axis sapphire -: art. no. 203105

The mechanical properties of zinc oxide epitaxial layers grown on a- and c-axis sapphire have been studied by spherical nanoindentation and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. As-grown threading dislocations, which are characteristic of epitaxial material, combined with the presence of the much harder, underlying substrate are found to have a significant effect on the mechanical behavior of ZnO epilayers as compared to bulk material. Epilayer material is found to be significantly harder than its bulk counterpart. For a- axis epilayers, analysis of load-unload data yields a hardness of 6.6 +/- 1.2 GPa, and 5.75 +/- 0.8 GPa for c-axis layers. We attribute this increased hardness to strain compensation via the presence of as-grown defects. These defects inhibit the slip mechanism responsible for relative softness of bulk single crystals. The absence of pop-in events from analyzed continuous-load nanoindentation data is further evidence for strain compensation by native defects within the epilayers. Large variations in the spread of collected data are indicative of inhomegenity in the epilayers. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.