Nanoscale experimental study of a micro-crack in silicon

A micro-crack in silicon was experimentally investigated using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The crystal lattice structure of a micro-crack was carefully observed at a HRTEM image scale of approximately 18 nm. The crystal lattice structure of the crack tip region was observed to be regular with good periodicity. The HRTEM images of the micro-crack demonstrate that the micro-crack cleavage expands along two crystal planes, where the principal cleavage plane is the (1 1 1) crystal plane