Nanohardness and Young’s modulus of II-IV-V2 chalcopyrite nonlinear optical crystals: a comparative study

Abstract

Nanohardness and Young’s modulus of oriented monocrystalline II-IV-V2 chalcopyrite semiconductors are measured by nanoindentation for the first time. The tests are performed on (100) and (001) surfaces. Anisotropy is observed for Young’s modulus only. It is most pronounced for CdSiP2. The hardness results display linear dependence on the melting temperature (except for CdSiP2) and the values decrease with the molar mass. They can be well fitted as a function of the molar mass and the unit cell volume. Young’s modulus dependences show similar trends.