Nanoindentation Crack Suppression and Hardness Increase in SrTiO$_3$ by Dislocation Engineering

Dislocations in functional oxides have sparked interest in the potential they hold for harvesting both enhanced mechanical and functional properties for next-generation electronic devices. This has motivated the recent research
endeavor to achieve tunable dislocation density and plastic zone size in functional oxides. However, the dislocation density-dependent micro-/nanomechanical properties in functional ceramics have yet to be assessed, which will be critical for the design of reliable electronic devices in the near future. In this work, we use a model material, single-crystal SrTiO 3 , as one of the most widely used substrates for oxide electronics, to assess the hardness and fracture behavior at micro-/nanoscale by pre-engineering the dislocation densities from $\sim$10$^{10}$ m$^{-2}$ up to $\sim$4.0 x 10$^{14}$m$^{-2}$ . We find crack suppression and enhanced hardness during nanoindentation in samples with pre-engineered dislocations. Post-indentation analysis using transmission electron microscopy revealed the critical role of pre-existing dislocations in regulating the crack suppression and increased hardness in SrTiO$_3$ . ... mehrThe results can help guide the design of mechanically reliable electronics via dislocation engineering.