Kinetic origin of island intermixing during the growth of Ge on Si(001)
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer Festkoerperforschung, Heisenbergstrasse 1, D-70569 Stuttgart (Germany)
The effects of substrate temperature, growth rate, and postgrowth annealing on the composition of Ge islands grown on Si(001) were investigated with a combination of selective wet chemical etching and atomic force microscopy. A simple kinetic model comprising only surface diffusion processes can explain all the experimentally observed compositional profiles for pyramid and dome islands grown in the 560-620 deg. C range. From this model three-dimensional compositional maps were extracted. By performing annealing experiments a change in the composition of the domes was observed. This could be explained as the result of the islands' movement induced by alloying-driven energy minimization. Also in this case kinetically hindered bulk diffusion processes are not needed to explain the experimental observations.
- OSTI ID:
- 20719830
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 72, Issue 19; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.72.195320; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1098-0121
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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