DISLOCATION ARRAYS AT THE INTERFACE BETWEEN AN EPITAXIAL LAYER AND ITS SUBSTRATE

The relationship between the him thickness and dislocation spacing in the interface dislocation arrays is studied by using a criterion based on the energy difference between the relaxed film configuration and a selected, partially relaxed or unrelaxed reference configuration. It is shown that arrays with lower dislocation density are formed in rela xation processes that are more gradual. Stability of arrays is examine d, and new bounds of the stable range are constructed.