Griffith Criterion for Nanoscale Stress Singularity in Brittle Silicon

Brittle materials such as silicon fail via the crack nucleation and propagation, which is characterized by the singular stress field formed near the crack tip according to Griffith or fracture mechanics theory. The applicability of these continuum-based theories is, however, uncertain and questionable in a nanoscale system due to its extremely small singular stress field of only a few nanometers. Here, we directly characterize the mechanical behavior of a nanocrack via the development of in situ nanomechanical testing using a transmission electron microscope and demonstrate that Griffith or fracture mechanics theory can be applied to even 4 nm stress singularity despite their continuum-based concept. We show that the fracture toughness in silicon nanocomponents is 0.95 ± 0.07 MPa√m and is independent of the dimension of materials and therefore inherent. Quantum mechanics/atomistic modeling explains and provides insight into these experimental results. This work therefore provides a fundamental understanding of fracture criterion and fracture properties in brittle nanomaterials.