The use of AFM in assessing the crack resistance of silicon wafers of various orientations.

[Display omitted] • Physical and mechanical properties were obtained for (1 0 0), (1 1 0) and (1 1 1) oriented Si wafers. • Certain directions of crack propagation were revealed for each orientation. • AFM allowed to obtain crack length and К 1C with high accuracy. • A correlation was established between К 1C , surface energy and Young's modulus. • A correlation was established between G 1C and microhardness H. Crack resistance of silicon wafers plays a vital role in development of MEMS technologies containing beam elements. In the present research, this characteristic was determined using the Vickers tip indentation method. The critical stress intensity factor K IC and fracture energy G IC of silicon wafers of (1 0 0), (1 1 0), and (1 1 1) crystallographic orientations were evaluated. The measurements were supplemented by imaging of indents using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The correlation of these parameters with the specific surface energy, Young's modulus E and microhardness H was conducted. The values of E and H were evaluated by nanoindentation. The dependences of K IC and G IC on the load of silicon wafers of (1 0 0), (1 1 0), and (1 1 1) orientations were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]