Kinetics of strain relaxation through misfit dislocation formation in InAs/GaAs(111)A heteroepitaxy

The kinetics of strain relaxation through misfit dislocation formation is i nvestigated in InAs/GaAs(lll)A layer-by-layer heteroepitaxy. Experimental m easurements are presented of strain relaxation as a function of InAs him th ickness for epitaxial film growth on thin and thick GaAs buffer layers. The experimental measurements are described successfully through a phenomenolo gical mean-field theoretical analysis. The analysis reveals that the mechan ical behavior of our heteroepitaxial system with a thin buffer layer is sim ilar to that of a system with a thin compliant substrate that is practicall y unconstrained at its base. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.