Nanosurface Fabrication of Hard Brittle Materials by Structured Tool Imprinting

This paper reports on nanosurface fabrication of hard brittle materials by structured diamond tool imprinting. Ultrafine structured surfaces were fabricated on soda glass, firelite glass, quartz glass, quartz wafer, and silicon. A specially designed and developed nanoindentation tester and a structured diamond tool machined by Focused Ion Beam (FIB) are used for the generation of such surfaces. Imprinted marks and the ultrafine structures are analyzed for their geometrical shape and accuracy. Load-depth analysis on the formed surfaces was carried out. Critical depth, at which ductile-to-brittle transition in deformation occurs, was assessed for the hard brittle materials. Limits of ductile mode indentation for hard brittle materials were discussed in detail. Variation in the depth of structures in an imprinted mark was studied.