Description |
Investigation of the fracture properties of single crystals is a particularly rewarding pursuft, since this. is a field which has profound fundamental significance for the information it will yield regarding processes which occur on an atomic scale, in addition to 'the importance of the fracture I I problem in its own righto IE the long range view, of course, the first must be considered the more important justification for such research; nonetheless, the possibility of controlling the fracture behavior of materials has some far-reaching implications. It might not be amiss to point out a few of the possibilities peculiar to silicon, germanium and the related compound semiconductors, which are perhaps not. generally recognized. |