Microindentation of ground silicon wafers

The near-surface deformation behaviour of ground silicon wafers was determined by using microindentation technique. Surface softening phenomenon was observed during the indentation, which was due to the formation and propagation of subsurface damage. The residual indentation depth increases with the subsurface damage introduced in the lapping process, while the reduced contact modulus decreased with increasing the subsurface damage. An empirical relation was used to correlate the reduced contact modulus to the subsurface damage in the ground silicon wafers. This could provide a simple approach to characterize the subsurface damage by using the microindentation technique.