A critical assessment of dislocation multiplication laws in germanium

The issue concerning possible dislocation multiplication laws before the upper yield point of covalent materials is approached in 〈123〉 oriented Ge single crystals using the technique of stress relaxation and transient creep tests. Unlike in metals, relaxation tests exhibit a linear decrease of stress with time and inverse creep is observed. It is shown that these features are the signature of multiplication processes during the transient tests....