Scratching and Brittle Fracture of Semiconductor In-Situ Scanning Electron Microscope

Mastering the brittle facture (also called cleavage) of semiconductors is important when separating complex devices produced on epitaxially grown multi-layers or when processing III–V optical devices. Cleavage is usually performed in two stages. The surface is first micro-scratched with a sharp diamond tip, which induces structural defects. Secondly, by applying a load to the sample, fracture propagation is initiated, starting from the defect area. However, the mechanisms leading to the preparation of high quality cleavage surface are often not fully understood. The main objective of this paper is to present the fundamental phenomena occurring during the scribing and subsequent fracturing process of brittle semiconductors via in-situ Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).