Nanocrack nucleation in polycrystalline silicon during grain-boundary sliding

A theoretical model is proposed to describe nanocrack nucleation in polycrystalline silicon. In terms of this model, nanocrack nucleation is stimulated by grain-boundary sliding, which creates sources of local stresses in triple,junctions of grain boundaries. The relaxation of these local stresses is the main driving force of nanocrack nucleation near triple Junctions in polycrystal line silicon, in which grain-boundary sliding C, contributes substantially to plastic deformation under cyclic loading at room temperature. The model is used to calculate the critical external stress required for nanocrack nucleation in polycrystalline silicon.