F. Ernst, INTERFACE DISLOCATIONS FORMING DURING EPITAXIAL-GROWTH OF GESI ON (111)SI SUBSTRATES AT HIGH-TEMPERATURES, Materials science & engineering. A, Structural materials: properties, microstructure and processing, 233(1-2), 1997, pp. 126-138
During high-temperature epitaxial growth of GeSi layers on (111) Si su
bstrates the relaxation of misfit stresses produces regular misfit dis
location networks in the GeSi/Si interface. In these networks the misf
it dislocations dissociate into Shockley partial dislocations with Bur
gers vectors parallel to the interface. The dissociation leaves behind
intrinsic and extrinsic stacking faults, which cover a major fraction
of the GeSi/Si interface. Observations on the early stages of layer g
rowth indicate that the GeSi grows layer by layer, and that the critic
al layer thickness for misfit stress relaxation corresponds to the thi
ckness expected from the energy criterion of Matthews and Blakeslee. E
xperimental observations of misfit dislocations forming during cyclic
healing of as-grown GeSi/Si layers reveal the mechanisms by which misf
it dislocations with Burgers vectors parallel to the GeSi interface ca
n form. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.