Crystallographic cracking behavior in silicon single crystal wafer

Crystallographic cracking behavior was studied on three-point-bending specimens of silicon single-crystal wafer having (11̄0) [112̄]-oriented precrack. Crystallographic cracking occurred on alternating {111} planes after traversing about 500 μm from crack front at the brittle–ductile-transition temperature, and the main crack was almost parallel to the loading axis. The preferentially activated slip systems ahead of the crack tip resulted in the characteristic fracture in the specimens. The experimental results could be well explained by calculating the shear stress on all possible tetrahedral slip planes around the crack tip.