NANO EXPRESS Nanoindentation-induced n d t

300072, Chinananoscale becomes essential. Nanoindentation is one of the most important approaches to estimate mechanical properties in nanometer scale, which can test the modu-lus of elasticity, hardness, and yield stress of thin films or bulk specimens. In recent years, many researchers have focused on phase transformations in silicon during nanoindentation by both experiments and molecular dynamics simulations. The experimental methods for characterization of phase lation could directly observe the phase transformations of silicon and their distribution, as well as the anisotropic be-havior of single crystal, during nanoindentation in detail at the atomic level. It could also be employed to study the in-fluence of indenter shape, temperature, or other process-ing conditions on material deformation expediently [7-11]. Almost the same experimental methods were used to investigate the phase transformation of monocrystalline germanium in nanoindentation, and metallic β-tin phase (Ge-II) was detected under a certain pressure. It was found that the favored plastic deformation of bulk crystal-line germanium in nanoindentation was caused by shear-* Correspondence