Shear induced deformation twinning evolution in thermoelectric InSb

Twin boundary (TB) engineering has been widely applied to enhance the strength and plasticity of metals and alloys, but is rarely adopted in thermoelectric (TE) semiconductors. Our previous first-principles results showed that nanotwins can strengthen TE Indium Antimony (InSb) through In–Sb covalent bond rearrangement at the TBs. Herein, we further show that shear-induced deformation twinning enhances plasticity of InSb. We demonstrate this by employing large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) to follow the shear stress response of flawless single-crystal InSb along various slip systems. We observed that the maximum shear strain for the $$(111)[11\bar 2]$$ ( 111 ) [ 11 2 ¯ ] slip system can be up to 0.85 due to shear-induced deformation twinning. We attribute this deformation twinning to the “catching bond” involving breaking and re-formation of In–Sb bond in InSb. This finding opens up a strategy to increase the plasticity of TE InSb by deformation twinning, which is expected to be implemented in other isotypic III–V semiconductors with zinc blende structure.

The influence of adsorbed atoms concentration on the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency of the quasi-Rayleigh wave

Within the model of self-consistent connection of quasi-Rayleigh wave with adsorbed atoms, a method of constructing a new class of radiometric sensors of the temperature and concentration of adsorbed atoms on the surface acoustic waves is proposed. Based on the developed theory of the dispersion and acoustic mode width of a quasi-Rayleigh wave on the adsorbed surface of monocrystals with a Zinc blende structure, the temperature coefficient of the resonant frequency of the surface acoustic wave is calculated depending on the temperature and on the concentration of adsorbed atoms.

A Simulated Investigation of Ductile Response of GaAs in Single-Point Diamond Turning and Experimental Validation

In this paper, molecular dynamic (MD) simulation was adopted to study the ductile response of single-crystal GaAs during single-point diamond turning (SPDT). The variations of cutting temperature, coordination number, and cutting forces were revealed through MD simulations. SPDT experiment was also carried out to qualitatively validate MD simulation model from the aspects of normal cutting force. The simulation results show that the fundamental reason for ductile response of GaAs during SPDT is phase transition from a perfect zinc blende structure (GaAs-I) to a rock-salt structure (GaAs-II) under high pressure. Finally, a strong anisotropic machinability of GaAs was also found through MD simulations.