Atomic-scale investigation on GaAs damage mechanism during cleaving

QZ Zhang and R Gao and C Jiang and ZJ Zhan and QX Zhang and H Deng and CJ Wang, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCES, 303, 110660 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2025.110660

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor lasers are widely used in optical communication and biomedical monitoring, where the quality of cavity facets is critically determined by the mechanical cleaving process. However, the multi-scale effects of indenter geometry on scribing- induced damage remain unclear, as most previous studies have focused on a single scale. In this work, A multi-scale investigation of indenter shape effects on GaAs scribing-induced damage is conducted using both molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and nano-scratching experiments. Our results reveal that indenter shape significantly affects damage evolution at multiple scales: conical indenters generate higher scratching forces, deeper stress diffusion, and more severe subsurface dislocation densities, while pyramid indenters produce thinner amorphous layers, lower stacking fault densities, and smaller critical depths for ductile-to-brittle (DBT) transitions. These findings demonstrate the multi-scale influence of indenter geometry on damage mechanisms during GaAs cleaving. The insights gained provide a novel strategy for minimizing subsurface damage by selecting appropriate indenter shapes, thereby optimizing the fabrication of high-quality GaAs facets. This study advances the understanding of multi-scale damage evolution in brittle materials and offers practical guidance for the ultra-precision machining of GaAs-based devices.

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