A NEW MECHANISM FOR SPONTANEOUS NANOSTRUCTURE FORMATION ON BOTTOM-PATTERNED COMPLIANT SUBSTRATES

Bottom-patterned compliant substrates can be used to laterally modulat e the properties of a mismatched epilayer. At temperatures where strai n-dependent growth kinetics are significant, the GaAs bottom pattern c ompliant substrates affected the growth of strained InGaAs epilayers b y causing lateral modulation in material height. Spatially aligned mou nds and quantum dots were observed on the samples grown at high temper atures. A new mounding mechanism was observed on InGaAs layers grown o n the compliant substrates. Strain-dependent growth kinetics and the b ottom patterned compliant substrate are used to explain these effects. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(97)04445-8].