Reading the footprints of strained islands

Rastelli, A.; Stoffel, M.; Katsaros, G.; Tersoff, J.; Denker, U.; Merdzhanova, T.; Kar, G. S.; Costantini, G.; Kern, K.; von Känel, H.; Schmidt, O. G.

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Reading the footprints of strained islands

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Rastelli, A.
Former Scientific Facilities, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;
Department Nanoscale Science (Klaus Kern), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;

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Stoffel, M.
Department Nanoscale Science (Klaus Kern), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;

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Katsaros, G.
Department Nanoscale Science (Klaus Kern), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;

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Denker, U.
Former Scientific Facilities, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;
Department Nanoscale Science (Klaus Kern), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;
Abteilung v. Klitzing, Former Departments, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;

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Merdzhanova, T.
Former Scientific Facilities, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;

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Kar, G. S.
Former Scientific Facilities, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;

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Costantini, G.
Department Nanoscale Science (Klaus Kern), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;

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Kern, K.
Department Nanoscale Science (Klaus Kern), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;

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Schmidt, O. G.
Former Scientific Facilities, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;
Scientific Facility Nanostructuring Lab (Jürgen Weis), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;
Abteilung v. Klitzing, Former Departments, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;
Department Nanoscale Science (Klaus Kern), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Rastelli, A., Stoffel, M., Katsaros, G., Tersoff, J., Denker, U., Merdzhanova, T., et al. (2006). Reading the footprints of strained islands. Microelectronics Journal, 37, 1471-1476.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-00CD-A

Abstract

We report on recent advances in the understanding of surface processes
occurring during growth and post-growth annealing of strained islands
which may find application as self-assembled quantum dots. We
investigate the model system SiGe/Si(001) by a new approach based on
"reading the footprints" which islands leave on the substrate during
their growth and evolution. Such footprints consist of trenches carved
in the Si substrate. We distinguish between surface footprints and
footprints buried below the islands. The former allow us to
discriminate islands which are in the process of growing from those
which are shrinking. Islands with steep morphologies grow at the
expense of smaller and shallower islands, consistent with the kinetics
of anomalous coarsening. While shrinking, islands change their shape
according to thermodynamic predictions. Buried footprints are
investigated by removing the SiGe epilayer by means of selective wet
chemical etching. Their reading shows that: (i) during post-growth
annealing islands move laterally because of surface-mediated Si-Ge
intermixing; (ii) a tree-ring structure of trenches is created by
dislocated islands during their "cyclic" growth. This allows us to
distinguish coherent from dislocated islands and to establish whether
the latter are the result of island coalescence. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd.
All rights reserved.