In-Situ, High Temperature Microcompression of Silicon 

High temperature microcompression is an exciting application that allows uniaxial stress-strain behavior to be measured as a function of temperature for site-specific microstructural features: grains with a desired orientation, grain boundaries, or secondary phases.

In this application note, high temperature microcompression of lithography silicon pillars is demonstrated at temperatures up to 800 °C. This is the first observation of the deformation of micro-scale silicon in this temperature regime. Size effects at the highest temperature range appear to increase, suggesting significant high temperature strengthening may be achieved by reducing the scale of silicon components.