SPATIAL ORDERING OF ISLANDS GROWN ON PATTERNED SURFACES

We demonstrate that growth on a sample patterned with an ordered defec t array can lead to islands with rather narrow size distribution. Howe ver, improvement in the size distribution is achieved only if the grow th conditions (flux and temperature) have optimal values, determined b y the patterning length scale. Since the scanning tunelling and the at omic force microscopes are capable of inducing surface perturbations t hat act as potential preferential nucleation sites, our work demonstra tes that nanoscale surface patterning can improve the ordering of plat elets and self-assembled quantum dots. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(98)03444-5]