Strain relaxation during the surfactant modified epitaxial growth of Ge/Si(001)

Thornton, J. M. C., Williams, A. A., MacDonald, John Emyr ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5504-1692, van Silfhout, R. G., Finney, M. S. and Norris, C. 1992. Strain relaxation during the surfactant modified epitaxial growth of Ge/Si(001). Surface Science 273 (1-2) , pp. 1-8. 10.1016/0039-6028(92)90270-G

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

The initial strain relaxation of Ge on Si(001) has been investigated during epitaxial growth modified by a “surfactant” layer of Sb. Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction was used to measure the strain relaxation due to its high sensitivity to the in-plane distribution of lattice spacings. We have observed the critical thickness for strain relaxation in the Ge overlayer to be ~ 11 monolayers (ML), with further relaxation developing gradually and in stages. A meta-stable, partially relaxed layer forms up to a coverage of ~ 30 ML, after which a more pronounced relaxation takes place. Even at a coverage of ~ 55 ML, complete strain relief has not been reached, and was only achieved after a 700°C thermal anneal. Concurrent specular reflectivity measurements also reveal that the Ge overlayer grows in a layer-by-layer fashion, and not in the Stranski-Krastanow mode expected for the Ge/Si system. These data show dramatically how the modification of surface energies through the presence of a “surfactant” can affect the morphology of, and strain in, a lattice-mismatched heteroepitaxial system.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0039-6028
Last Modified:	24 Oct 2022 10:49
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/45966

Citation Data

Cited 28 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item